The above likeness is copied from an engraving taken from an emerald 
said to have been cut by command of Tiberius Caesar. It fell into the 
hands of the Turks at Constantinople, and was given to Pope Innocent 
V1J1, by the Sultan for the ransom of his brother. 




Itais same <Jesas> uuhich is tak- 
en ap from yoa into fieaven, shall so 
eome in like manner as ye ha^e seen 

fiim go into heaven:' jacistm 




bg 

James Edson White 









RE VI EW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOC. 
South Bend, Ind. WASHINGTON, D. C. New York City. 

SOUTHERN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 

Atlanta, Ga. NASHVILLE, TENN. Forth Worth, Tex. 
New Orleans, La. 









nil 



COPYRIGHTED, 1898, BY J. E. WHITE. 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

COPYRIGHTED, 1904, BY J. E. WHITE. 
COPYRIGHTED, 1907, BY J. E. WHITE. 
COPYRIGHTED, 1911, BY /. E. WHITE. 



C CI.A2S3020 



INTRODUCTION 



""THE great plan of redemption by which man 
■ is enabled to regain the glorious and happy 
state which sin lost to our first parents, may well 
attract the attention and interest of every son 
and daughter of Adam. 

Christ is the great central figure of this won- 
derful work. It is the design of this book to 
show His relation to this world from its creation 
to its final redemption, when it will again bloom 
like the garden of Eden of old, and become the 
happy home forever of those who accept the 
mercy which Christ offers. 

The first few chapters pass rapidly over the 
early periods of this earth's history. They show 
Christ as the Creator and Redeemer. The fact 
that Christ is the One who has been connected 
with this world from the beginning as Creator, 
as the leader of Israel in the wilderness, the One 
who inspired the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment, adds wonderful force to His work as Re- 
deemer, and as man's Mediator and Advocate 
with the Father. 

The primary object of this book, however, is 
to present the Bible view of Christ as the coming 
King. In its pages we look forward to the time 
when, not as the Leader of Israel, neither as the 
Man of Sorrows will He appear to this world, 
but as One who comes in the blaze of His own 

[v] 



vi 



INTRODUCTION. 



glory and of His Father's also. He comes accom- 
panied by all the host of heavenly angels, and 
" on His vestnre and on His thigh " shines the 
inscription, " King of kings, and Lord of 

LORDS." 

He comes to take possession of the kingdom 
which He has purchased at an infinite price ; 
He comes to redeem and take to Himself the 
subjects of His kingdom who have been faithful 
and loyal to Him through all the ages. At that 
time the righteous dead will be raised from 
their graves, and the righteous living will be 
changed, and all, with immortality coursing 
through their veins, shall be " caught up to- 
gether with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord 
in the air : and so shall we ever be with the 
Lord." 

Such themes are worthy of careful considera- 
tion by every one who desires to make his home 
in the earth made new, where the throne of God 
and the Lamb will be finally located, where Christ 
is our King and Elder Brother ; with God for 
our loving Father, and with the redeemed of all 
ages, and the angels of God as our companions, 
we shall dwell forever free from sorrow, sickness, 
pain, and death. 

May this be our happy lot. 

The Author. 



CONTRIBUTORS. — The author gratefully acknowledges contributions on 
special subjects treated in this book, from the pens of J. O. Corliss, M. B). 
Kellogg, and C. P. Bollman. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

The Creator 9 

The Created 13 

The Redeemer 18 

The Gospel in the Old Testament 24 

The Leader of Israel 28 

The Great Teacher. . . 32 

The Man of Sorrows 41 

Christ Our Sacrifice 48 

The Resurrection 57 

The Lord's Ascension 62 

Christ Our Mediator and Advocate 65 

He Will Come Again 68 

When Shall These Things Be ? 79 

Destruction of Jerusalem 85 

Great Tribulation 111 

Darkening of the Sun 119 

The Falling Stars 131 

The Days of Noah 137 

Iniquity Shall Abound 140 

False Christs and False Prophets 148 

Parable of the Fig Tree 151 

Gospel to All Nations 154 

One Taken Another Left 157 

The Revelation 160 

The First Angel's Message 164 

The Sanctuary 185 

The Second Angel's Message 199 

The Third Angel's Message 206 

Sabbath Rest 217 

A Sealing Message 239 

The Coming King 249 

The King's Reward 255 

The New Jerusalem 259 

SIGNS OF THE TIMES 

Famines 266 

Pestilences 272 

Earthquakes 277 

Volcanoes 284 

Storms and Tidal Waves 288 

Wars and Rumors of Wars 296 

Distress of Nations 302 

War Spirit and Peace Talk 304 

Capital and Labor 307 

The Coming Conflict 314 

The Nations' Airy Navies , , , , 319 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 

Frontispiece 2 

Without Form arid Void 9 

The Nativity 10 

Upholding All Things 12 

The Created 13 

Seven Days of Creation 14 

Their Eden Home 15 

Forbidden Fruit 16 

The Redeemer 18 

Righteousness of Christ 20 

Pharisee and Publican 21 

The Sacrifices Pointed to Christ 23 

Gospel in the Old Testament 24 

Abel's Offering 26 

I,ook and Live 27 

The Leader of Israel 28 

The Smitten Rock 29 

The Fall of Jericho 31 

The Great Teacher 32 

The Baptism of Jesus 35 

The Prodigal Son 39 

The Man of Sorrows 41 

The Foxes Have Holes 42 

Temptation in the Wilderness 43 

Temptation on the Pinnacle 44 

Get Thee Hence 45 

Abounding Merc}- 47 

Christ Our Sacrifice 48 

Christ The Way of Life 49 

The Cross of Calvary 52 

The Sacrificial Lamb , . . 53 

In Gethsemane 55 

The Resurrection 57 

I Am the Resurrection 58 

The Burial 59 

The Lord's Ascension 62 

Christ Our Mediator and Advocate. 65 

He Will Come Again 68 

I Will Come Again 69 

The Hope of Job and David 71 

As the Lightning Shineth 77 

Thou Shalt Dash Them in Pieces. . . 78 

When Shall These Things Be? 79 

On the Way to Olivet 80 

Pouring Water 82 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem 84 

Destruction of Jerusalem 85 

Nothing but Leaves 87 

Cut It Down 91 

The Doomed City 93 

Roman Ensign 106 

Fleeing from Jerusalem 108 

Siege of Jerusalem 109 

Great Tribulation 111 

They Were Stoned 112 

Cast to the Lions 114 

Burning at the Stake 118 

Darkening of the Sun 119 

Dark Day in the Morning 120 

Dark Day in the Afternoon 121 

Dark Day not an Eclipse 126 

The Moon Became as Blood 128 

Falling Stars in New England 131 

Falling Stars at Niagara 133 

Falling Stars in Mississippi 134 



Page 

The Days of Noah 137 

Iniquity Shall Abound 140 

False Christs and False Prophets . . 148 

Parable of the Fig Tree 151 

Gospel to All Nations 154 

One Taken, Another Left 157 

The Revelation 160 

First Angel's Message 164 

Children Preachers 170 

Portrait of Wm. Miller 172 

The Sanctuary 185 

Confessing His Sins 187 

The Scape-goat 189 

View of the Sanctuary 190 

Second Angel's Message 199 

Third Angel's Message 206 

The Beast From the Sea 207 

Mount Sinai 213 

Sabbath Rest 217 

Paul at Troas 227 

Paul at Corinth 237 

A Sealing Message 239 

The Coming King 249 

The King's Reward 255 

The New Jerusalem 259 

Famines 266 

Sufferers in Bombay House 267 

Menace of the Sparrows 268 

The Rabbit Pest 269 

The Gypsy Moth 270 

Locusts 271 

Pestitences 272 

Hospital in Plague District 273 

Earthquakes 277 

Wreck Cathedral Tower at Manila 277 

Lisbon Earthquake 278 

San Francisco Fire 279 

Valpariso Destroyed b3* Earthquake 280 

Quilotta, Now Destroyed 281 

Earthquake at Messina 282 

Volcanoes 284 

Volcano at Krakatoa 2S6 

Volcano of Mt. Pelee 287 

Storms and Tidal Waves 288 

Storm in St. Louis 290 

Storm at Eads Bridge 291 

Cyclone at Bradshaw, Neb 292 

Hurricane at Galveston 293 

Typhoon at Hong Kong 293 

The Mobile Disaster 295 

Wars and Rumors of Wars 296 

British Battle-ship Dreadnaught. . 297 

U. S. Battle-ship Utah 298 

Size of Battle-ships Compared 299 

U. S. Submarine "Plunger" 300 

Distress of Nations 302 

Gatling and His Gun 302 

Turret of Battle-ship 303 

New 14-inch Gun 303 

Peace Palace at the Hague 304 

Street Car Riot 307 

The Coming Conflict 314 

The Aeroplane 319 

Shooting from Aeroplane 319 

The Balloon Gun 320 



[viii] 




heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void ; and 
darkness was upon the face of the deep/' Genesis 1:1,2. 

How great must be that mighty One, who could 
make an earth like ours ; who could make the grass 
and trees, fruits and flowers, to grow and flourish; 
who could cause the intelligent creatures of the world 
in which we live, to move, and think, and love ! 

The way in which God created all things is in 
harmony with His greatness. The psalmist says, " He 
spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood 
fast." Psalms 33 : 9. Hence the Creator spake, and 
His word, as spoken through Christ, made the world. 

" The worlds were framed by the word of God, so 
that things which are seen were not made of things 
which do appear." Hebrews 11 : 3. The world was not 
made of anything which we can see, but was the prod- 
uct of the Creator's word. 

The apostle tells us that life dwells in the Word, 
and that this life is "the light of men." John 1 14. 
Men live, and think, and act because of the power of 
God's word. This word, which created the worlds 
in the beginning, has the same power to-day which 
it had then. 

Christ is the Word of God. The apostle writes, 
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." 
John 1 : 14. The helpless Babe, born in a manger at 

[93 



IO 



THE COMING KING 




Bethlehem, was in reality the Being who created the 
world in the beginning. He was the Son of God, 

the Only Be- 
gotten of the 
Father, and had 
been with God 
before the cre- 
ation of the 
world. 

The prayer 
of Jesus makes 
plain the above state- 
ment regarding the pre-existence of 
Christ. "And now, O Father, glorify 
Thou Me with Thine own self with 
the glory which I had with Thee be- 
fore the world was." John 17:5. 

And Micah 5 : 2 states that His 
" goings forth have been from of old, 
from everlasting" (Heb. from the 
days of eternity'). 

Christ was from eternal ages a 
sharer in His Father's heavenly glory, 
but by a miracle altogether beyond our 
comprehension, came to the earth to be a man among 
men, to carry our griefs, and to share our experi- 
ences, that finally we might share His glory. Hebrews 
2:9, 14. Jesus prayed, "Father, 1 will that they also, 
whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where ] am; 
that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast 
given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation 
of the world." John 17:24. 

John also said, "In the beginning was the Word, 




TH£ CREATOR 



and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
The same was in the beginning with God." John 
i : i, 2. Christ was with the Father when the world 
was planned and made. 

Of the part which Christ took in the creation of 
the world, the apostle John says, "All things were 
made by Him; and without Him was not any thing 
made that was made." "He was in the world, and the 
world was made by Him." John 1:3, 10. 

In John 1:1 the Word (Christ) is called God. The 
Father himself declares, "Thy throne, O God, is for 
ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter 
of Thy kingdom." Hebrews 1:8; Psalms 45:6. In 
these texts the Son is called God by the Father. 

Isaiah, giving the names that apply to Christ, says, 
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: 
and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and 
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The 
Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of 
Peace." Isaiah 9 : 6. 

These titles, as applied to Christ, are very appro- 
priate when we consider His exalted position as stated 
by Paul: "Who, being in the form of God, thought it 
not robbery to be equal with God." Philippians 2 : 6. 
Standing equal with the Father in the realm of heaven, 
and in all the created universe, it can be plainly seen 
that He should bear the titles of the Creator. 

Of the glory of Christ, Paul writes: "Who is the 
image of the invisible God, the first-born of every crea- 
ture: for by Him were all things created that are in 
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, 
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principali- 
ties, or powers: all things were created by Him, and 



12 



THE COMING KING 



for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all 
things consist." Colossians i : 15-17. 

The same apostle also says, "God . . . hath in 
these last days spoken unto us by His Son, "Whom He 
•hath appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He 
made the worlds; who, being the brightness of His 
glory, and the express image of His person, and up- 
holding all things by the word of His power, when 
He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the 
right hand of the Majesty on high." Hebrews 1 : 1-3. 

Jesus, the Son of God, our Redeemer, created the 
the heavens and the earth, as well as the other planets 
of the universe, and all they contain. He not only 
created all things, but He sustains, or holds together, 
all that He has created. One day follows another, the 
seasons come and go, because, by the word of His 
power, all things consist and remain. It is the word 
of His power that keeps the earth, the sun, the moon, 
and the stars in their places. 

Such a Saviour may well be trusted with our all. 
We may rest in Him as in a faithful Creator, know- 
ing that "there hath not failed one word of all His 
good promise" (1 Kings 8 : 56) to the children of men ; 
and that, accepting His word, we too shall be upheld 
even as all things are upheld "by the word of His 
power." 



" Upholding all things by the word of His power." 




Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.' 
Genesis 2:1. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
sea, and all that in them is." Exodus 20:11, 



The first chapter in the Bible tells of the most 
wonderful week the world has ever known. In it 
this earth was made. At first it was all dark, sur- 
rounded by mists, and covered with water. 

On the first day of this week, the voice of God 
caused the light to shine where all was darkness 
before. On the second day the mists were collected 
into clouds, and the firmament was made. On the third 
day the dry land appeared, and out of it God made to 
grow the trees, the grass, the beautiful flowers, and all 
vegetation. 

On the fourth day He appointed the sun to shine 
by day, and the moon and stars to rule the night. 
On the fifth day He made great whales, the fish, and 
all the animals that live in the sea, and the birds and 
fowls that fly in the air. 

The work done on the sixth day was most wonder- 
ful of all. On this day God made the beasts of the 
field, the cattle, and all creeping things. But 'last, and 

[13] 




First Day,— Light. 



Second Day, — Firmament. 




Third Day— Dry Land and Vegetation. Fourth Day,— Sun, Moon, and Stars. 




m 




Fifth Day,— Fowls and Fishes. 



AT CREATION. 

"And God blessed 
the seventh day, and 
sanctified it : because 
that in it He had rested 
from all His work 
which God created and 
made." Genesis 2:3. 



Sixth Day, — Man and Beast. 




AT SINAI. 

" For in six days the 
I,ord made heaven and 
earth, the sea, and all 
that in them is, and 
rested the seventh da}-: 
wherefore the I«ord 
blessed the Sabbath 
da}', and hallowed it." 
Exodus 20 : 11. 



Seventh Day,— The Sabbath. 



[14] 



THE CREATED 



15 



best of all, God made man, His "noblest work" because 
made "in His own image/' "And God blessed them, 
and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and 
replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion 
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the 
air, and over every living thing that moveth 
upon the earth." Genesis 1:27,28. 

Not only was man made absolute ruler 
of everything in it, but the earth itself was 
given to him. "The heaven, even the 
heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath 
He given to the children of men." Psalms 
115:16. 

"And the Lord God planted 
eastward in Eden; and there He 
put the man whom He had 
formed. And out of the ground 
made the Lord God to grow 
every tree that is pleasant to 
the sight, and good for food." 
Genesis 2 : 8, 9. 

What a beautiful gar- 
den home this must have 
been! No curse rested 
upon it ; no weeds nor briars 
grew in its soil. Everything that 
heart could desire, was provided for our first parents. 

And God caused to grow "the tree of life also in 
the midst of the garden." This was a wonderful tree, 
for its fruit would keep one alive as long as he had 
the privilege of eating it. As long as he would obey 
God, he could eat of the fruit, but as soon as he should 
disobey, he would no longer have any right to it, and 
so would become subject to death, 




Their Eden Home 



i6 



THE COMING KING 



In the garden was another tree, called "the tree of 
the knowledge of good and evil." The fruit which it 
bore appeared luscious, and as inviting as that which 

grew elsewhere. But God said, 
"Thou shalt not eat of it: for 
in the day that thou eat est 
thereof thou shaJt surely die." 
Genesis 2:17. God could have 
prevented man from eating of 
that fruit ; but had 
He done so, it 
could not have 
been shown wheth- 
er man intended to 
obey Him or not. 
God is pleased only 
with willing obe- 
dience, because it 
is only by cheerful 
obedience, that we 
show our love for Him. "God is Jove/' and loving 
service only is acceptable to Him. So God gives to 
even- one the power of choice, to obey Him and live, 
or to disobey Him and die. 

Those who truly obey God do so because they love 
Him, and love His ways. Those who dislike God's 
ways will not walk in them. He who walks in God's 
ways grows to be like Him, and so becomes fitted to 
dwell with God, and to associate with sinless angels. 

But we are just as free to disobey as we are to 
obey. God tells us, as He told Adam and Eve in Eden, 
what He wants us to do, and what disobedience will 
bring us ; then He leaves us to choose what we will 




Forbidden Fruit 



THE CREATED 



17 



do. If God should force men to obey Him, against 
their will, their hearts would not be changed. If com- 
pelled to act in a way contrary to their choice, they 
would hate God still more ; thus their service would 
neither benefit themselves nor be acceptable to God. 
For this reason, man is left free to do as he chooses. 

Adam and Eve, tempted by Satan, failed to obey 
God. They chose to eat of the forbidden fruit, and 
lost their Eden home. God mercifully expelled them 
from the garden, and carefully guarded every avenue 
of approach to the tree of life, in order to prevent 
their partaking of its fruit, thereby perpetuating an 
existence in sin. See Genesis 3 : 22-24. 

Thus deprived of this wonderful fruit, they had no 
hope of life. The sentence of death was even then 
being carried out. How changed their condition ! All 
this because they had chosen Satan as their leader 
and king. 

But the effects of their mistake did not cease with 
themselves. All the human race came under the same 
sentence of death. "As by one man sin entered into 
the world, and death by sin; . . . so death passed upon 
all men." Romans 5:12. 

All the race would have been lost, had God pro- 
vided no way of escape from eternal death, but His 
love found a refuge for all who would believe. "We 
see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels 
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and 
honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death 
for every man." Hebrews 2:9. If we, too, see Jesus, 
as the One who has tasted death for us, and flee to the 
refuge He has provided, we may confidently hope in 
His salvation. 
2 




The eternal purpose of God from the beginning 
has been that every intelligent being should yield Him 
obedience and loving service, because by this very 
loving service, man would reach the highest degree of 
happiness. 

Man was created perfect — in the image of God. 
Through sin his innocence was lost, condemning him 
to death. Justice demanded this; but while abhor- 
ring sin, God loved the sinner still, because God never 
changes. Malachi 3:6; James 1:17. 

The heavenly angels loved man also, so all heaven 
was filled with sorrow when he fell. Man had trampled 
upon the law of God ; and death, which till then was 
unknown, would now follow everywhere in the track of 
sin. To the guilty pair there seemed no way of escape. 

There was One, however, and only One in the uni- 
verse, who could pay the debt. He only could redeem 
who had power to create. The Son of God, the only 
Begotten of the Father, could meet man's needs, and 
He offered Himself as a ransom for sinners. 

But does God love the poor sinner enough to make 
such a sacrifice for him? What a struggle it must 
have been for the great God to decide to give up His 
[18] 



THE REDEEMER 



*9 



much beloved Son to die for a wretched, guilty race ! 

Yet He did this very, thing, for His love is an 
"everlasting love." Jeremiah 31 13. So when man fell, 
"God so loved the world that He gave His only be- 
gotten Son." Not only did Christ die for us, but He 
has been given to us forever. He is ours, now, and 
through the endless ages of eternity. What boundless 
love is this ! It is beyond all human understanding ; 
but it is the love of God toward man. 

How different is this from the thought that God 
is a pitiless Judge, whose desire is to destroy the sin- 
ner, and that the constant pleading of Christ alone 
prevents Him from doing so. 

But we can now see that God and Christ are one 
in counsel, one in purpose, one in love, and one in 
their desire and effort to "save that which was lost." 

It is not God who must be reconciled to man. 
God's character has never changed; but man through 
sinful thoughts, stands unreconciled to God. To teach 
man to love God, and so to bring him into harmony 
with God, was the mission of Christ to this earth. 
This, too, was the work of God, for " God was in Christ, 
reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 Corinthians 5 : 19. 

Therefore, whenever Christ appeared among men, 
God was working through Him to redeem man. All 
that Christ said or did was the life of God, showing 
through Christ, to tell of God's love to fallen humanity. 

Man had exchanged his beautiful garments of right- 
eousness and glory for filthy rags. He was wearing 
the clothing of a convict, and was under sentence of 
death. 

But notwithstanding all this, Christ left His royal 
robes in heaven, and came to earth to live with, and 



20 



THE COMING KING 



wear the garb of, criminals. He took their nature. 
Hebrews 2:17; Romans 8:3. He was tempted in all 
points as they were. Hebrews 4:15. He was made 
"to be sin" for them, though He "knew no sin." 
2 Corinthians 5:21. 

He came to earth in human form, and placed Him- 
self by the sinner's side, in order to show him a per- 
fect life, that is, 
God's life in hu- 
man flesh, saying 
by this to the 
sinner, "This is 
what God desires 
you to be." 

If we will per- 
mit Him, He will 
take from us our 
sin -stained gar- 
ments of filthy 
rags, and clothe us 
with the beautiful 
garments of H i s 
righteousness. 

In Zachariah 
3:3,4 we read as 
follows: "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy gar- 
ments, and stood before the angel. And he [the angel] 
answered and spake unto those that stood before him, 
saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And 
unto him [Joshua] he said, Behold, 1 have caused thine 
iniquity to pass from thee, and 1 will clothe thee with 
change of raiment." In this text Joshua represents the 
sinner both before and after he becomes reconciled to God. 




THE REDEEMER 



21 



Pharisee 



Fallen man cannot earn righteousness by any 
works he can do. It is the free gift of God to all 
who will accept it. When a sinner turns to Christ, 
realizing that in so doing lies his only hope, he is 
pardoned, justified, and clothed upon by the righteous- 
ness of Christ. Christ's righteousness is then imputed 
to him. 

Our Saviour illustrates this in the prayers of the 
Pharisee and the publican : "Two men went up into 
the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and 
the other a publican. The Pharisee stood 
and prayed thus with himself, God, ] 
thank Thee, that ] am not as other 
men are, extortioners, unjust, adulter- 
ers, or even as this publican. 1 fast 
twice in the week, 1 give tithes of all 
that 1 possess. 

"And the publican, standing 
afar off, would not lift up so 
much as his eyes unto heaven, 
but smote upon his breast, say- 
ing, God be merciful to me a 
sinner. ] tell you, this man 
went down to his house justi- 
fied rather than the other : for 
every one that exalteth him- 
self shall be abased; and he 
that humbleth himself shall be 
exalted." Luke 18 : 10-14. He 
was forgiven, justified, made righteous. 

Only one way could be devised to save the fallen. 
Man had broken God's holy law, and cut himself off 
from God. God's law could not be changed to save 




and Publican. 

Luke 15:10. 



22 



THE COMING KING 



the sinner, and even if it conld have been, this would 
not have reconciled man to God. To change God's 
law, therefore, would not elevate man; on the contrary, 
it would lower the standard and destroy the immuti- 
bility of the word of the Creator of the universe. This 
could not be, and so the suffering of the Son of God 
must follow, or the salvation of man be abandoned. 

When the eternal purpose of God is finally worked 
out in the wonderful plan of redemption, "not only 
men, but angels, will ascribe honor and glory to the 
Redeemer ; for even they are secure only through the 
sufferings of the Son of God. 

"Not only those who are washed by the blood of 
Christ, but the holy angels also, are drawn to Him by 
His crowning act of giving His life for the sins of the 
world. 'And 1, if 1 be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all unto me'* — not only earth, but heaven; for of 
Him 'the whole family in heaven and earth is named/ " 
John 12:32 ; Ephesians 3:15. "That in the dispensa- 
tion of the fullness of times He might gather together 
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, 
and which are on earth; even in Him." Ephesians 1: 10. 

The plan of redemption met immediately the sin 
and fall of man. God accepted the offer of Christ to 
die for the sinner. Christ the Creator became the 
promised sacrifice and Redeemer; hence He is the 
" Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev- 
elation 13:8. Throughout the ages the sacrifice of 
Christ has been the hope and comfort of the faithful. 

*The word "men" in our translation of the Bible is a supplied word, and is 
not found in the original. Words found in italics in our version indicate that 
these words are supplied by the translators. In some cases these supplied words 
are misleading, and in others actually needless. An instance of the latter is 
found in 2 Samuel 13 : 39. 



THE REDEEMER 



23 



To the redeemed it will be the theme of praise and 
adoration throughout the ceaseless years of eternity. 

To the repentant sinner the blood of Christ, through 
faith, brought pardon during the ages before His 
death, just as surely as it does to us who are living 
this side of the crucifixion. Their faith looked for- 
ward to a Saviour to come ; ours looks backward to 
the crucified Redeemer of Calvary. There has been 
but one gospel, one way of salvation. 

The blood of the innocent lamb, which was offered 
as a sacrifice by the patriarchs, was a type of the 
blood of Christ. It showed their faith in the 
coming Redeemer, and brought pardon for 
their sins. These sacrifices were neces- 
sary until Christ should come and die ; 
for "without shedding of blood is no 
remission." Hebrews 9:22. Our ac- 
ceptance of Christ, by faith, brings 
pardon for our transgression. 
Thus the gospel of salvation 
through Christ, is the same 
both before and after the 
crucifixion. And through 
all His ministry for 
man, "God was in 
Christ recon- 
ciling the world 
unto Himself." 



The Earthly Sacrifices 

Pointed to Christ 





The Gospel in the 

Old Testament 

"Unto us was the gospel preached, as well as 
unto them." Hebrews 4: 2. 



The great plan of redemption has been 
in operation ever since man fell. Jesus 
Christ is the central figure of this plan. 
"Neither is there salvation in any other: 
for there is none other name under heaven 
given among men, whereby we must be 
saved.' ' Acts 4:12. 

This applies to all ages, for Christ is 
"the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.'' 
Revelation 13 : 8. It is a mistake to suppose that there 
have been two plans of salvation — one for patriarchs 
and Hebrews living before the cross, and another for 
Christians of the present dispensation. 

It is a mistake to suppose that Old Testament sin- 
ners were forgiven and saved through obedience to the 
law without faith in the atonement and pardoning love 
of Christ. 

It is equally a mistake to suppose that we of the 
New Testament dispensation are saved by the gospel 
of Christ while disregarding the law of God. Faith 
in Christ brings pardon for past sins. His abiding 
presence, and the transforming power of the Holy 
Spirit, enable us to obey the requirements of the law 
of God, and so prepare and fit us to dwell with the 
holy angels throughout eternity. 

The word "gospel" means good news — good news 
[24] 



THE GOSPEL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 25 



of redemption through Jesus Christ. How long has 
this gospel been proclaimed? Was it first given in the 
time of Christ? Or was it first made known to Moses 
or Abraham? — When God proclaimed to the first guilty 
pair that the seed of the woman (Christ) should bruise 
the serpent's (Satan's) head (Genesis 3 : 15), He gave 
them the gospel, or good news, that Christ would over- 
come Satan, and open a way of escape for fallen man. 
In this promise to Adam and his posterity, we find the 
gospel of the Redeemer as truly as did the shepherds 
on the plains of Bethlehem, as they listened to the 
wonderful anthem from the angel choir, "Glory to 
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will 
toward men." Luke 2:14. 

Abel's faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ made his 
offering acceptable to God. The fire that came from 
heaven and consumed his sacrifice, was the testimony 
from God that his faith in Christ, and his compliance 
with the requirements of God, had brought him pardon 
and justification by faith. Hebrews 11:4. 

Cain, while professedly obedient, had a heart full of 
rebellion and unbelief. The love of Christ had no 
place in his sacrifice ; therefore it was rejected of 
heaven. With it there was no recognition of the won- 
derful provisions of the gospel; hence his offering 
brought no forgiveness, no justification, for there was 
no exhibition of faith. 

Envy and hatred of his brother sprang up in the 
heart of Cain. And then followed the awful tragedy 
of the murder of Abel, which was the first death the 
world had known. "And wherefore slew he him? 
Because his own works were evil, and his brother's 
righteous." 1 John 3:12, 



26 



THE COMING KING 




Cain's offering of the fruits of the ground was not 
in accordance with God's plan. Such an offering could 
not in any way represent the atoning blood of Christ ; 
for Paul says, "without shedding of bJood is 
no remission." Hebrews 9 : 22. 

The gospel was preached 
to Abraham. 
"And the scrip- 
ture, foreseeing 
that God would 
justify the hea- 
then through 
faith, preached 
Cain's offering before the gos- 
pel unto Abraham, saying, In thee 
shall all nations be blessed." Ga- 
Abd's offering lations 3 : 8. Paul here quotes 

from Genesis 22 : 18: "And in thy seed shall all the 
nations of the earth be blessed." In Galations 3:16 
Paul says this "seed" is Christ. This was the gospel 
of justification by faith, the same as we have it. 

Moses and the children of Israel had the gospel ; 
for Paul says, "Unto us was the gospel preached, as 
well as unto them." Hebrews 4:2. Here the apostle 
treats it as a well-known fact that their fathers had 
the gospel. And we have the gospel as well as they. 

All the sacrifices and offerings of the old dispensa- 
tion simply showed forth man's faith in the coming 
of a Messiah. When properly offered, they were the 
very strongest evidence of faith in, and acceptance of, 
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Without this faith, the 
Levitical sacrifices could be of no more avail than was 
the offering of Cain. 



The gospel in the old testament 27 



But this faith was not cherished by those who came 
out of the bondage of Egypt. Hence they were com- 
pelled to wander forty years in the wilderness until 
their carcasses fell by the way, and a 
generation that knew God had taken 
their place. Two faithful ones alone 
of all the vast company that left Egypt 
— Caleb and Joshua — finally entered 
the promised land. 

The brazen serpent (Num- 
bers 21:8) was an object-lesson 
teaching the children of Israel 
of the Christ to come. "Look 
and live," is the true test of 
faith in Christ. As one look at 
the brazen serpent, set up in 
view of all the camp of Israel, 
brought life and health to the 
sufferer, so one look at the cru- 
cified One of Calvary brings life 
and salvation to the repentant sinner. 

Christ gives the connection between the raising up 
of the serpent in the wilderness and His own cruci- 
fixion, thus: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." 
John 3:14. Later He explains the object of this : "And 
1, if 1 be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
unto Me." John 12:32. 

Through the influence of the Holy Spirit, our Lord 
is working upon the hearts of men. To the sinner 
He says, I have been tempted just as you are. There 
is hope, courage, and salvation in exchange for a look. 
Only look and live. 




Look and Live ' 



The Leader of Israel 

"As captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." Joshua 5:14. 
"My presence shall go with thee." Exodus 33:14. 

When the hosts of Israel left Egypt to go to the 
land of Canaan, they did not go alone. God said to 
them : " Behold, ] send an Angel before thee, to keep 
thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which 
] have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice, 
provoke Him not; for He will not pardon your trans- 
gressions: for My name is in Him." Exodus 23 : 20, 21. 

Only one Being in the universe besides the Father, 
bears the name of God, and that is His Son, Jesus 
Christ. Hence this Angel that accompanied Israel in 
their wanderings was no other than Christ. 

But the rebellion of the people was so great that 
at one time Moses feared that the Lord might leave 
them, and so he pleads, "]f Thy presence go not with 
me, carry us not up hence." And the Lord answered, 
"My presence shall go with thee." Exodus 33:14, 15. 

So, throughout their journeyings, the presence of 
[28] 



THE LEADER OF ISRAEL 



the Lord went with them as a pillar of cloud by day, 
which protected them 
from the intense heat of 
the desert. In the night 
this was changed to a pillar of fire, 
to give them light and comfort. When 
the Iyord would have them journey, 
the pillar would be lifted, and move 
in the direction they should take. 
When it stood still, the camp was 
pitched beneath its protection. 

Soon after leaving Egypt, they 
came into the desert 
was no water. 
When Moses cried 
to the Iyord, He di- 
rected him to the 
rock of Horeb. 
When Moses smote 
the rock, as com- 
manded, the waters 
flowed from it, and 
supplied all their 
needs. Ever after, in 
their wanderings, 
until they neared 
the promised land, 
wherever they 
camped, there was the cooling stream of water in the 
desert, flowing from the rock. 

Paul declares that this was a type of Christ, and 
that they "did aJJ eat the same spiritual meat; and did 
alJ drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of 




Moses Smiting the Rock 



30 



THE COMING KING 



that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock 
was Christ." i Corinthians 10:1-4. 

We can now understand the statement of Stephen : 
"This [Moses] is he that was in the church in the wil- 
derness with the Angel [Christ] which spake to him 
[Moses] in the Mount Sina, and with our fathers: who 
received the lively oracles [the law of God] to give unto 
us." Acts 7 : 38. 

We have found the Angel in the wilderness to have 
been Christ. The Father and the Son were doubtless 
both in the mount. But it was the Son as Mediator 
between God and man, who spoke the ten command- 
ments from Mount Sinai, in the presence of Moses and 
the children of Israel. Hence we see that Christ is not 
only the Creator, but He is also the giver of His 
Father's law to this world. How appropriate, there- 
fore, that He should, when on earth, proclaim Him- 
self "Lord of the Sabbath," and the expounder of all 
the precepts of His Father's divine law. 

As the Hebrews reached the promised land, under 
the leadership of Joshua, as they were preparing to 
attack Jericho, the Lord appeared to Joshua in person. 
"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, 
that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there 
stood a Man over against him with His sword drawn 
in His hand; and Joshua went unto Him, and said unto 
Him, Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries? And He 
said, Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am 
1 now come." Joshua 5:13-15. 

Christ is the Captain, or Archangel, of the host of 
heavenly angels. See Jude 9; 1 Thessalonians 4:16. 
At the command of Christ, "the host of the Lord" 
threw down the walls of Jericho. 



THE LEADER OF ISRAEL 



3 1 



The Spirit of Christ inspired the prophets of the 
former dispensation. It testified through them of 
Christ's sufferings at His first advent, and of the glory 
that should follow at His second coming. Hence the 
prophets "inquired and searched diligently, who proph- 
esied of the grace that should come unto you; search- 
ing what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ 
which was in them did signify, when it testified before- 
hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should 
follow. ,, i Peter 1:10, n. 

We can see, therefore, that it was Christ who has 
given to us the Old as well as the New Testament. 
He spoke through the prophets of the Old Testament, 
the same as He has through Peter, James, John, and 
Paul in the New. So we have a whole Bible, filled, 
from Genesis to Revelation, with the wonderful gospel 
of salvation through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
for which we will praise Him now and evermore. 




The fall of Jericho 




The Great Teacher 

; And seeing: the multitudes, He went up into a moun- 
tain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto 
Him: and He opened His mouth, and taught them." 
Matthew 5:1,2. 



Before sin entered trie world, there 
was nothing to hinder direct intercourse 
between God and man, and the Creator could make 
known to men His purposes and wishes. Sin separated 
man from God, as a sinner cannot remain in the pres- 
ence of the holy God. 

God still loved man after he had sinned, and at 
once began the work for his salvation. He purposed, 
at a later time, to send His Son into the w T orld, but 
the people needed immediate instruction, and so, from 
among themselves, God raised up men to whom, in 
dreams and visions, or in a more direct manner, He 
revealed His will, that they might make it known to 
the people. 

Noah was one of these; Moses was another; and 
these teachers were inspired by Christ, who from the 
beginning, took charge of the world which He had 
created, and which He purposed to redeem. 

These teachers prophesied that Christ would come. 
The prophet Isaiah especially foretold very minutely 
the sufferings and death of the Saviour. See Isaiah 53. 
[32] 



THE GREAT TEACHER 



33 



Of all of these prophets the apostle Peter declares that 
"the Spirit of Christ which was in them . . . testified 
beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that 
should follow." i Peter 1:11. 

In the parable of the vineyard Christ describes the 
treatment these teachers received. He said: — 

"There was a certain householder, which planted a 
vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine- 
press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to hus- 
bandmen, and went into a far country: and when the 
time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the 
husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. 
And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, 
and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent 
other servants more than the first: and they did unto 
them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his 
son, saying, They will reverence my son." Matthew 
2i:33-37. 

Therefore after many other teachers had been sent 
into the world, Christ came Himself as the greatest 
teacher that the world ever knew; even His enemies 
said, "Never man spake like this man." John 7:46. 

The public ministry of Jesus began when He was 
thirty years old. Before beginning to preach, He came 
to the River Jordan, where John was baptizing, and 
was baptized by him. Jesus was not a sinner, so John 
at first hesitated to baptize Him. But when he learned 
that Jesus desired to set an example for those who 
should follow Him, he consented. 

When Jesus was baptized, as He came up out of 
the water, "the heavens were opened unto Him, and 
he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and 
lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, say- 
3 




thou shall 
diligently untx 
and shalt talk of them 
::::: ~: 



rji~- Lies: 



risest up." Dent. 6 : 7. 



&f©J 




UN 



1_ 



_r r 



ike ant: thee =.-7 graven image. :r ir.-.- 
; that is in heaven above, or that is in the 
at in the -water under the earth: thou 
thyself to them, nor serve them : for I the 
ialous God, visiting the iniquity of the fath- 
- nut: the thirl ar.1 : earth generatitr :: 
iri =;e— merrv art: t - ; usau 1 s ;:' 

III 

:e the -a— e :: the l:ri thy G-t-1 in vain ; ::r 
: htm gatiltless that taketh "Has aame in vain, 



IV 



:e — :ra t.essea tae 
ion- ihv father am 



:: heer it holy. Six days shalt 
- - -~ the lay is the 

it thou shalt not do any work. 
Liter thy manservant, nor thy 
hy stranger that is within thy 
1 made heaven and earth, the 
res tea the seventh day: where- 
1 day. and hallowed it. 

ther that thy 127= ~av be '.tag 
y &:>! gtvetu thee. 



V I 



VII 

it commit adultery. 
VIII 



Thr 



~zl :V. : 



.gainst thy neighbour. 

's house, thou shalt not 
hi; manservant, nor his 
ass, nor any thing that is 



I 

1 




Tr. -r .k. n:: -hit I am c:~e :: ieltrTj "he , :r 
prophets : I am not come to destroy, bnt to fulfill, 
■verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, 
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, 
all be fulfilled." Matthew 5 : 17, iS. 



the great teacher 



35 



ing, This is My beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased." Matthew 3 : 16, 17. 
Thus strengthened for His soon-coming , ; . 
conflict with Satan, the A s /J> 
Saviour went forth 
to teach the ways of 
God to the people. 

Christ bore a 
message of love from 
the heavenly 
Father to man- . 
kind. In the Ser- 
mon on the 
Mount, Jesus 
taught that those 
who are poor in 
spirit, who mourn 
because of their 
sins, who are 
meek, who long 
for righteousness, 

the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, are 
blessed of God, and that those who are persecuted for 
righteousness' sake may rejoice even while suffering. 
See Matthew 5:1-11. 

These promises have eased many heartaches, and 
lighted up with divine glory many an otherwise weary 
road. 

Christ's teaching in regard to the law of the Father 
deserves careful attention : "Think not that ] am come 
to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to 
destroy, but to fulfill. For verily ] say unto you, Till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in 




The Baptism of Jesus 



36 



THE COMING KING 



no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whoso- 
ever therefore shall break one of these least command- 
ments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least 
in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and 
teach them, the same shall be called great in the king- 
dom of heaven." Matthew 5 : 17-19. 

That the Lord here refers especially to the ten com- 
mandments is evident because following these words. He 
quotes the sixth and seventh commandments, and shows 
that hatred is murder and that lust is adultery. 

As explained by Jesus, the law takes hold upon the 
very thoughts of the heart. No one can say, therefore, 
that he has never broken that law, and that he does not 
need the blood of Christ to cleanse from sin. 

It is very natural for us to love those who love us, 
and hate those who have injured us ; but the Saviour 
taught a better way, even His way. He said, u Love 
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them 
that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use 
you, and persecute you." Matthew 5 144. 

How noble is such teaching ! Does the law ask too 
much of us? — No, indeed; obedience would produce 
universal happiness, for none can be happy while 
hating others, or seeking to injure them. 

As long as God -sends His blessings — His sunshine, 
His rain — on any one, He must love him; and if God 
loves him, why should not we? Jesus taught us to pray 
God to forgive our trespasses even as we forgive those 
who trespass against us. See Matthew 5:12-15. 'How, 
then, can we breathe that holy prayer, which Jesus 
taught us, or hope for God's mercy, while cherishing 
hatred against any? 

But the greatest of all Christ's teachings — the one 



THE GREAT TEACHER 



37 



thing that He desires us to know — is that we, poor 
sinners, can through Him return to God, and find 
mercy, pardon, and salvation. To teach this, and to 
teach it so that all would know it, He came to earth. 
No other being except the Father ever loved us as He 
loves us. 

Jesus mingled with the poor and needy. Free from 
sin Himself, He associated with sinners. See Luke 
15:1. Blessed record ; hope of the otherwise hopeless 
— Jesus received sinners ! He receives them still. 

How Christ receives sinners He taught in the par- 
able of the prodigal son. "A certain man had two 
sons: and the younger of them said to his father, 
Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. 
And he divided unto them his living. And not many 
days after the younger son gathered all together, and 
took his journey into a far country, and there wasted 
his substance with riotous living. 

"And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty 
famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And 
he went and joined himself to a citizen of that coun- 
try; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks 
that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him. 

"And when he came to himself, he said, How many 
hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to 
spare, and 1 perish with hunger ! I will arise and go to 
my father, and will say unto him, Father, 1 have sinned 
against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy 
to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired 
servants." And this interesting record continues: — 

"And he arose, and came to his father. But when 
he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and 



[33] 



The Prodigal Son 



THE GREAT TEACHER 



39 



had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and 
kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, ] have 
sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more 
worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his 
servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; 
and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and 
bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, 
and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive 
again; he was lost, and is found." L,uke 15:11-24. 

The prodigal son represents a sinner. He has wan- 
dered away from his Father's house ; but God sends 
His Spirit to convict him of sin, and if he will yield 
to that Spirit, he will arise and return to his Father. 
And how will this sinful son be received? — Oh, when 
he is yet a great way off, if but his face is turned 
homeward, the Father will run to meet him. He will 
not receive him as a servant, but as a son. The best 
robe is none too good for him; the choicest food is 
placed before him ; there is joy and rejoicing, for a 
sinner has returned to the Father's house. 

This is the lesson that Jesus teaches in this para- 
ble. How can one wander from such a loving, heav- 
enly Father? yet, having wandered, how can he longer 
stay away? 

It is easy to believe that the Father loves the Son, 
but we should believe also that He loves us if we are 
trying to serve and obey Him. If it were not so, why 
did He give His Son to die that we might live? 

Of those who received His words when here on 
earth, He said: "J have given unto them the words 
which Thou gavest me; and they have received them, 
and have known surely that ] came out from Thee, and 
they have believed that Thou didst send me. 1 pray for 



4o 



THE COMING KING 



them : 1 pray not for the world, but for them which 
Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine." John 17 : 8, 9. 

And not only for those who listened to the words 
that fell from His lips did Jesus pray, but for all 
believers even to the end of time ; for, continuing, He 
prayed : " Neither pray ] for these alone, but for them 
also which shall believe on Me through their word; 
that they all may be one: as Thou, Father, art in Me, 
and 1 in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that 
the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." John 
17:20,21. With such a loving Teacher, whose sole 
purpose is to do us good, who has even given His life 
for us, and whose object is to make us holy and happy 
forever, why should we not make haste to learn the 
lessons He has given us? 

When this great Teacher came unto His own (the 
Jewish people), they received Him not; they treated 
Him as they had treated those He had sent before 
Him. See Matthew 21:38, 39. Shall He be treated by 
us in this way? Oh, let us receive His words, that we, 
like those who then received Him, may become the 
sons of God. 

He said, "Learn of Me; for 1 am meek and lowly 
in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Mat- 
thew 11:29. 

Only in Jesus is there rest. Let us sit at His feet, 
receiving His words, and being baptized with His 
Spirit. Then, throughout eternity, we shall learn more 
of the ''depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
knowledge of God." 




IT was necessary, in order to carry ont the plan 
of salvation, for the Son of God to come to this earth 
and die, that lost man might be redeemed. In God's 
own good time, therefore, Christ left his home in heaven, 
and the power and glory which He had with His Father 
"before the world was" (John 17:5)^0 accomplish this 
purpose. To the world He appeared simply as a babe 
born in a manger in Bethlehem. He grew to man- 
hood, known only as a humble carpenter, working with 
His earthly father, Joseph. 

Even when Jesus began His public ministry, though 
His teaching was accompanied by mighty miracles, few 
believed in Him. In their blindness the people could 
not see in Him and His w T ork the "arm of the Lord." 
Their unbelief had been foretold by the prophet: 
"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the 
arm of the Lord revealed?" Isaiah 53:1. 

The words, "He was despised and rejected of men; 
a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," were 
spoken many years before the advent of the Saviour, 
and they were literally fulfilled in His life among men. 
"He was in the world, and the world was made by 
Him, and the world knew Him not." John 1:10. His 
mission to this earth was twofold: — 

[41] 



42 



THE COMING KING 



Firsts He came to redeem man. To redeem is to 
purchase back that which has been lost. By the sac- 
rifice of Himself, He "purchased back" sinners, in order 
to free them from the terrible consequences of sin. 

By His death He secured life for all 
who would receive Him. 

Second^ He came to be an example. 
He lived just such a life as man must 
live, so that He might be a perfect 
guide to all who would follow Him. 
In order to meet man in his fallen 
condition, He must go to the lowest 
depths of poverty, temptation, sorrow, 
and suffering. While He was here 
upon earth, our Saviour passed through 
every experience of man. Of His pov- 
erty it is written: "The foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air have 
nests; but the Son of man hath not 
where to lay His head." Matthew 
8:20. Even the very poorest have 
some place which they call home, but 
our L,ord was a homeless wanderer. 

Of the temptations which Jesus 
passed through in His human nature, 
and of His care for the tempted, we 
read: "For we have not an High 
Priest which can not be touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities; but was 
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, 
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in 
time of need." Hebrews 4:15, 16. 




4e f 



THE MAN OF SORROWS 



43 



In the wilderness Christ was especially tempted 
upon the points of appetite and ambition. Our first 
parents failed on the point of appetite, and Christ won 
the victory where they had failed. 

On the pinnacle of the temple, He was tempted to 
presume on His Father's care and mercy. The 
taunts of the enemy, insinuating disbelief of 
Christ's sonship to God, were hard for His 
human* nature to bear, but He took 
no step outside the boundaries of 
His heavenly mission to earth. 
Had He yielded, the plan of 
salvation would have been a 
failure. 

On the mount, the 
tempter sought to lead the 
Saviour to believe that He 
could redeem man in an 
easier way than by the life 
of suffering He was 
just entering upon. If 
He would only bow 

down and acknowledge Satan Temptation in 
as the rightful owner and ruler the Wilderness 

of the world, the evil one promised to ab- 
dicate, and Christ could take possession at once. At 
such a suggestion the Saviour turned to him in indig- 
nation, and gave the command which compelled the 
enemy to depart. 

Of the inner life of Christ, the prophet said, He 
was "a Man of sorrows." To us, life brings more of 
happiness than of sorrow; more of joy than of grief. 
But the sorrows of a sinful world pressed so heavily 




44 



THE COMING KING 



upon the Heart of Christ, that He was known as "The 
Sorrowful Man." 

Of His sufferings we read, "He was wounded for 
our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: 

the chastisement of our peace 
was upon Him; and with His 
stripes we are healed/ 1 Isaiah 
53:5. His life was one of 
privation, and often of suffer- 
ing. His experience in the 
wilderness, His anguish in 
Gethsemane, as well as the 
awful horrors of His trial and 
crucifixion, — all testify to the 
truthfulness of this statement. 
No martyr's suffering in the 
torture chamber can compare 
with the keen anguish Christ suf- 
fered both in mind and in body. He 
went to the limit of human suffering. 
During His life, Jesus met every form 
of temptation, every experience that can 
come to man, for a twofold purpose: — 

First, "For in that He Himself hath 
suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor 
them that are tempted/' Hebrews 2 :i8. To "succor," 
is to give comfort and help when one is in trouble. 
This is just what the L,ord Jesus does for those who 
are distressed by the presence of sin. He speaks peace 
to the troubled spirit, and says to the weary, anxious 
one, "Come unto Me," I will give you rest. 

Second, that whenever we are in deep trial and 
temptation, we may remember that our Saviour passed 




Temptation on the 
Pinnacle 



THK MAN OP SORROWS 



45 



through the same, and has promised to "make a way 
to escape" for us in every instance. If we will only 
let Him, He will bring us in triumph through every 
temptation. More than this, though He has passed 
through all these trying experiences, yet, for our sal- 
vation, He will, with us, pass through them again, and 
as the Apostle Paul expresses it, make us " in all these 
things . . . more than conquerors, through Him that 




sorrows " on the earth, because He was daily among 
those who were suffering from the plague of sin. "In 
all their affliction He was afflicted." These consoling 
words of the prophet point especially to the work of 
Christ. When any mourned the loss of dear friends, 
He sympathized with them. See John 1 1 : 33-36. When 
they rebelled against Him, He was sorely grieved. See 
Mark 3:5. When they refused to hear His words of 
warning, He wept over them. See Luke 19:41. 

When, in the garden of Gethsemane, He was pre- 



4 6 



the coming king 



paring to meet death on the cross, He endured such 
agony that "His sweat was as it were great drops of 
blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22 144. When 
brought before Pilate, a legal trial was denied Him, 
and men were hired to testify falsely against Him. 
See Matthew 26:59-61. When hanging on the cross, 
the weight of the sins of the world was so great that 
He felt forsaken of His Father, and cried out in the 
deepest agony, "My God! My God! why hast Thou 
forsaken Me ? " Matthew 2 7 : 46. 

All this was borne by the Lord, not only to show 
how much He loved the fallen race, but that He might 
bestow on all who would receive Him, the fellowship 
with Him in suffering, and give them His own con- 
solation and glory. To receive the Lord and follow 
Him, is to pass through similar experiences of trial. 
"The servant is not greater than his lord. If they 
have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if 
they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also." 
John 15:20. 

If, however, the world does all these things to the 
followers of Christ, the fact that He has borne it all 
before them, can be their consolation. In all these 
troubles, the assurance is given that by suffering with 
Him, they are preparing to reign with Him. See 2 Tim- 
othy 2 :i2. All who thus follow Christ, should rejoice, 
because they are partaking of His sufferings. See 1 
Peter 4:13. 

Christ endured these things ; and as we are joint 
heirs with Him, we, too, must share with Him in His 
sufferings, if we expect to share His glory. See Rom- 
ans 8:17. But we need not wait to the end for the con- 
solation which comes from sharing with Christ in His 



THE MAN OF SORROWS 



47 



sufferings. He has sent us word that "as the suffer- 
ings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also 
aboundeth by Christ." 2 Corinthians i : 5. 

Just think of this promise: as suffering abounds, 
so consolation abounds. That is to say, we have enough 
consolation to balance all the suffering we are called 
upon to endure. To illustrate this, we may suppose 
ourselves to be like a pair of balances. On one side 
suffering is put in against us. This would weigh that 
side entirely down if nothing were put in the other 
side ; so the Lord balances that with His consolation. 
We will therefore call the suffering "as" and the con- 
solation "so." As the suffering weighs down one side, 
so the consolation weighs 1 down the other, and thus 
the scales are kept evenly J balanced all the time. 
Thus we are fitted to I dwell in His presence, 
and share His eternal JJL glory. 




v ^ 

Christ our 

Sacrifice 

" All we like sheep have 
gone astray; we have 
turned every one to his 
own way; and the Lord 
hath laid on Him the in- 
iquity of us all," Isaiah 
53:6. "Who His own 
self bare our sins in His 
own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness : 
by whose stripes ye were healed." 1 Peter 2:24. 




When the Lord made man and placed him in the 
beautiful garden of Eden, He put upon him a test, 
that he might choose whether he would obey God or 
not. It was a very simple test. The man was to eat 
freely of all of the trees of the garden except one, and 
that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 
God did not give the fruit of this tree to man. He 
did not wish man to know evil, as that could come 
only by disobeying God. 

The Lord had stated plainly what the result of 
disobedience would be. " But of the tree of the knowl- 
edge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in 
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 
Genesis 2 117. 

Against the express command of God, our first par- 
ents, when tempted of Satan, allowed appetite to con- 
trol them. They did the very thing that God had 
forbidden them to do, and therefore were driven from 
the garden. Thus cut off from the tree of life, they 
became subject to death; and so all their descendants 
[48] 



Christ the Way of Life 



The picture on the other side of this leaf presents the plan of 
salvation, as connected with man, from the time when paradise was 
lost to our first parents until it will be finally restored to the faithful. 

The great central feature is, and of necessity must be, the cross of 
Christ. This is the only hope of a fallen race. The shadow of .the 
cross reaches backward to the very gates of Eden, from which Adam 
and Eve are being driven on account of their sin. God's displeasure 
is represented by the clouds which overhang them, and the vivid 
flashes of lightning. 

But they immediately step into the shadow of the cross. This is 
a figure of the work of Christ, whose offering for the sins of the world 
availed for them as well as for us. He was the " Lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world." Revelation 13 : 8. He is the seed of the 
woman that should bruise the serpent's head. Genesis 3 : 15. 

Abel offered a lamb as a sacrifice to God. By so doing he showed 
his faith in the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the 
world. Cain did not have faith in Christ, hence he did not bring a 
proper offering, and it was not accepted. This led to the hatred and 
final murder of his brother Abel. See 1 John 3:12. 

Coming closer to the cross, we see that priests were appointed to 
make sacrifices for the sins of the people. In the picture the penitent 
is confessing his sins on the head of the offering. The lamb was then 
put to death. This was a type of Christ, the real sacrifice, who would 
bear the sins of the world on the cross. 

The shadow ceases at the foot of the cross. Hence the offerings 
and ceremonies which pointed to Christ ceased when He was crucified. 
At the crucifixion ' ' the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the 
top to the bottom," by the hand of God, indicating that the temple 
service was no longer of any use. See Matthew 27 : 51. The ten com- 
mandments were not done away at this time, for Christ said that He 
was "not come to destroy the law;" for the law was to continue 
"till heaven and earth pass." Matthew 5 : 17, 18. 

The decline of paganism is shown in the ruins of their temples as 
seen behind the cross. 

The gospel memorials of baptism and the Lord's Supper are 
shown at the right. 

In the upper right-hand corner the artist has sketched a represen- 
tation of the New Jerusalem, which is finally to come down from God 
out of heaven to become the capital city of the earth made new. 
There, with Christ as our King and Elder Brother, we shall dwell 
forever in a glorious land freed from every taint of sin and all results 
of the curse. See Revelation 21. 
[5o] 



CHRIST 1 OUR SACRIFICE 



Si 



became, in them, a dying race. "Wherefore, as by one 
man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all 
have sinned." Romans 5:12. 

Sin is rebellion against God; and as God cannot 
allow rebellion to continue forever, either the sinner 
must be destroyed, or some plan must be devised by 
which his sins could be removed from him. The plan 
of salvation met this need by providing that Jesus, the 
Son of God, should die in place of the sinner. 

He who never sinned took the sinner's place, re- 
ceived the punishment that man deserved, and hence- 
forth stands ready to give the believing sinner His own 
righteousness. This does not save the sinner from 
dying the natural death which comes to all as a con- 
sequence of Adam's sin, but it will save him who 
accepts of it, from the "second death," which the un- 
repentant must suffer for his own sins. 

The plan of salvation provided that the sins of all 
the world should be laid upon Christ, that He should 
be treated as a sinner, in order that repentant sinners 
might be made righteous through Him and receive 
the reward of righteousness. For when we believe on 
Christ, realizing the great love that led Him to die for 
us, our hearts are changed ; sin becomes hateful to us ; 
we put it away, and the power of God working for us, and 
through us, makes us "new creatures in Christ Jesus." 

As soon as this plan was devised, it provided a 
Saviour for man, and mercy was at once offered to 
him. Having given Himself thus for man in the very 
beginning, Christ is truly described in the Scriptures 
as the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." 
Revelation 13:8. 



52 



THE COMING KING 



The Cross of 
Calvary 



But it was not the design of God that Christ should 
at once give His life for man. There were few peo- 
ple in the world in the early ages. God desired to 
have many witnesses of the death of His Son. At 
that time, the terrible nature of sin had 
not been fully developed, nor could it be 
seen until men should become so wicked 
that they would not hesitate to take even 
the life of the Son of God. Thus their 
hatred and His willingness to die that 
they might live, would be brought into 
sharp contrast ; the fruit of sin and the 
fruit of love would be placed so close to- 
gether that all could see the difference. 
The great central event in the history of 
this world was to be the cross of Calvary. 

For the purpose of keeping before men 
the blessed hope that Christ would come 
and die for the sinner, the Lord directed 
that offerings should be presented to Him. 
These offerings were to be such as would 
represent Christ, — living creatures that 
could be slain as He was to be slain. By 
such offerings, the children of men could 
show their faith in the promised Saviour. 
"In process of time" Cain and Abel brought offer- 
ings to God. "Cain brought of the fruit of the 
ground ; " but Abel " brought of the firstlings of his 
flock." God had respect to Abel's offering, but not to 
that of Cain. See Genesis 4:3-7. The reason why 
God accepted Abel's offering is thus told in the Scrip- 
tures : " By faith Abel offered unto God a more excel- 
lent sacrifice than Cain." Hebrews 11:4. 




CHRIST OUR SACRIFICE 



53 



What was it that made Abel's offering acceptable? 
— It was faith. That faith led him to offer a lamb, 
which represented the Lamb of God. The blood of 
the lamb represented the blood of Christ to be shed 
on Calvary, — the innocent dying for the guilty ; and 
that is the principle upon which the plan of salvation 
rests. 

During the long ages between Adam's sin and the 
advent of Jesus Christ to the world, those who believed 
in God offered sacrifices in faith, the same as Abel. 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, wherever they went, offered 
sacrifices. These offerings were a 
most important part of the worship 
of God. 

When God, through Moses, took 
His people out of Egypt where they 
had been in bondage, He again gave 
them laws in regard to offerings. 
The lambs to be offered must be without blemish, so 
that thev would properly represent the perfect Son of 
God. 

Under the Jewish ritual, if one had sinned, and felt 
that he needed forgiveness, he brought his offering to 
God. Placing his hand upon the head of the victim, 
he confessed his sins, which were thus in a figure 
transferred to the offering. The life of the victim was 
then taken instead of his own life, which he had for- 
feited through sin. 

When the fulness of time came, God sent His Son 
into the world to be the divine sacrifice for sin. The 
blood of animals could not really take away sin ; it 
could only prefigure the spilt blood of Christ, which 
was to be shed for sin. When John the Baptist saw 




54 



THE COMING KING 



Jesus coming to him, he exclaimed, " Behold the Lamb 
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" 
John 1:29. 

Year after year, through long ages, men had looked 
over their flocks, and selected the choicest lambs for 
sacrifice ; but now God's Lamb had come. God had 
looked over His great flock, and only One could be 
found that could redeem the world ; and though He was 
His only begotten Son, God freely gave Him to bear 
the sins of the world. 

Was Christ not a perfect sacrifice? — No one has yet 
been able to find any fault in Him. Even Pilate, who, 
to please the enemies of Jesus, gave orders for His cru- 
cifixion, was forced to say : " Ye have brought this Man 
unto me, as one that perverteth the people : and, behold, 
1, having examined Him before you, have found no fault 
in this Man touching those things whereof ye accuse 
Him: no, nor yet Herod." Luke 23:14, 15. 

Then they led Jesus away to be crucified. Well 
had the prophet declared: "He is brought as a lamb 
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is 
dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." Isaiah 53 : 7. 

Sinner, behold your Sacrifice! See Him fainting 
underneath the weight of the cross, on the way to 
Calvary ! That little hill near Jerusalem was to become 
the greatest altar of sacrifice the world ever saw, the 
place where love conquered hate; the place to which 
every sinner can look, and say, " Behold, what manner 
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us," that He 
should give His Son to die that " we should be called 
the sons of God ! " 1 John 3:1. 

Nailed to the cross, suffering the most terrible an- 
guish for six hours He hung suspended between the 



CHRIST OUR SACRIFICE 




55 



heavens and the earth ; and yet He 
prayed for His executioners. See 
Luke 23:34. 

Though men were unfeel- 
ing, nature was not ; 
and a mysterious 
darkness falling 
upon the 
world, with 
earthquake 
and rend- 
ing rock, 
drew from 
even the 
heathen Ro- 
man officer 
who stood by, 
the confession, 
c Truly this Man was 
the Son of God." Mark 
15 139. The physical pain which Jesus endured, though 
great, was but a small part of His sufferings. To 
be rejected by His own people, and to be delivered 
by them to the Romans to be put to death, caused 
Him intense grief. But more than everything else 
it was the sense of the sins which He bore for all the 
world, thus separating Himself from His Father, which 
crushed Him, and caused Him the bitterest anguish. 

It was the awful sense of sin which before, in the 
garden of Gethsemane, had caused Him to sweat as it 
were great drops of blood falling down to the ground 
(Luke 22:39-46); and now, — though nailed to the 
rugged wood, suffering great physical pain, deserted by 



In Gethsemane 



56 



THE COMING KING 



His own disciples, and entirely given up to His ene- 
mies, surrounded by a mob led on by the chief priests 
and rulers, who, even while the film of death was gath- 
ering over His eyes, taunted and derided Him, — it was 
the sense of His Father's displeasure that caused Him 
such overmastering grief, and forced from His lips the 
despairing cry, "My God ! My God ! why hast Thou 
forsaken Me?" Matthew 27:46. To be forsaken of 
God, — an experience which He must obtain in order 
to become a perfect Saviour for guilty sinners, — this 
broke His great, loving heart, and cut short His life. 

But the great sacrifice for sin was now made; the 
plan of salvation is sure because now complete. Christ, 
the Son of God, had died for man, the just for the 
unjust, the divine for the human. That which the 
sacrificial offerings had long pointed forward to was 
now a reality. 

The offering of a lamb is now no longer required ; 
"but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than 
the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory 
and honor ; that He by the grace of God should taste 
death for every man." Hebrews 2:9. A worthy sac- 
rifice has been provided by God Himself, and He will 
surely accept the offering which He has furnished. 

This sacrifice is always ready. Wherever we are, 
whenever we will, we can, by faith, bring this sacrifice 
before God in prayer, and plead the merits of the Son 
of God in our own behalf. The promise is: "What- 
soever ye shall ask in My name, that will ] do, that 
the Father may be glorified in the Son." John 14:13. 

He is the Prince of Life and " His name through 
faith in His name," can bring perfect soundness to 
every sinful soul. 





I am the Resurrection, and the Life : 
He that believeth in Me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live/' John 
II : 25. " Thy dead men shall live, 
together with my dead body shall 
they arise." Isaiah 26: 19. 



The Resurrection 



Seven hundred years before trie crucifixion, Isaiah 
testified that the Saviour would make His grave " with 
the rich in His death." Isaiah 53 : 9. 

To make " His grave with the wicked," would have 
been to cast Him out without burial, with criminals.* 
But the Jews were foiled in this design, by one of their 
own wealthy rulers, Joseph of Arimathea, who, in this 
darkest hour for the followers of Christ, stepped out 
boldly and took his stand for the crucified Saviour. 

Joseph had great influence with Pilate, and begged 
from him permission to take the body from the cross 
to give it honorable burial. Pilate, who was conscience- 
stricken, because of the weak and wicked part he had 
acted, readily gave Joseph the desired permission. 

Tender, loving hands took the Saviour from the 
cruel cross, and bore His body to the new tomb, which 
had never before been used, and there He was laid, 
thus literally fulfilling the statement of the prophet. 
Although poor while in life, in death His body was 
laid in the new, rock-hewn tomb of the wealthy ruler 
of Israel. No greater honor could have been shown 

*"Bishop Lowthe translates this text as follows : "And His grave 
was appointed with the wicked ; but with the *ich man was His tomb." 
The design of His enemies was frustrated. 



[57] 



'THE RESURRECTION 



59 



to the dead than was accorded to Jesus by Joseph 
and Nicodemns. Of His rest in the tomb we read in the 
beautiful language of David in the Psalms: "There- 
fore My heart is glad, and My glory rejoiceth: My 
flesh also shall rest in hope* For Thou wilt not leave 
My soul in hell [the grave]; neither wilt thou suffer 
Thine Holy One to see corruption." Psalms 16:9, IO « 
— <ssr _ In the hour of death, the faith of Christ 
clung to the promises of God. He 

A. 




The Burial 



laid 

down 43*^ 
His life in 

the full assurance that 
He would soon hear 

the summons, "Jesus, Thou Son of God, Thy 
Father calls Thee." Solomon had said, "The heaven 
and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him." 2 Chron- 
icles 2 : 6. Peter, speaking of His death, said : "It was 
not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts 2 : 24. 

Early" on the first day of the week, a bright and 
powerful angel appeared at the tomb; the Roman 
guard fell as dead men before his glorious brightness ; 
the stone was rolled away, and at the command of the 
heavenly messenger, the bands of death were broken, 
and the Saviour came forth a mighty conqueror. 



6o 



THK COMING KING 



Henceforth the resurrection of the dead was a reality. 

It was to this resurrection scene that the apostles 
looked as the evidence of fulfillment of the promise 
of the future reward of all the faithful. Said Christ : 
"1 am the resurrection, and the life: He that believeth 
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." John 
11:25. 

Christ died " that through death He might destroy 
him that had the power of death, that is, the deviL ,, 

Hebrews 2: 14. Satan claimed all who had fallen in 
death as his subjects. The resurrection of Christ broke 
the power of death. From that hour, Satan knew that 
his hold on the human family would sometime be 
broken, and that his days were numbered. 

Paul, looking forward to the general resurrection, 
which is to take place at the second coming of Christ, 
describes it in the following words: "The Lord Him- 
self shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we which 
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and 
so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore com- 
fort one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 
4:16-18. 

The future reward of the righteous is placed at the 
time of the resurrection, for the Saviour says : " Thou 
shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." 
Luke 14 :i4- 

Paul bases his entire hope of a future life on the 
resurrection of the dead. He says that if there is no 
resurrection, "then they also which are fallen asleep in 
Christ are perished." But this is not possible ; " for 



THE RESURRECTION 



61 



since by man came death, by man came also the resur- 
rection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so 
in Christ shall all be made alive." " For the trumpet 
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, 
and we shall be changed." Read i Corinthians 15: 
12-22, 52. 

Isaiah looked beyond the grave when he testified: 
"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body 
shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: 
for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall 
cast out the dead." Isaiah 26:19. 

Job was willing to rest his future hope on the res- 
urrection. "If a man die, shall he live again? all the 
days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change 
come. Thou shalt call, and 1 will answer thee: Thou 
wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands." Job 
14:14, 15. Where was Job to wait? Here is his own 
answer: "If ] wait, the grave is mine house: 1 have 
made my bed in the darkness." Job 17:13. 

He who conquered the grave, will come to this earth 
again, and at that time, "the dead shall hear the voice 
of the Son of God : and they that hear shall live." John 
5:25. Then "the wilderness and the solitary place 
shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall rejoice, and 
blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and 
rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Leba- 
non shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and 
Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the 
excellency of our God." Isaiah 35:1, 2. 




He had come, He began to reveal to His disciples 
something of what the future had in store for them. 
The prospect of meeting trials without the Saviour to 
share them, brought sadness to their hearts ; and lest 
they should become discouraged, He opened to them 
the thought that His going away would be an advan- 
tage to them ; said He, "for if 1 go not away, the Com- 
forter will not come unto you." John 16:7. 

These words were full of mystery to the wonder- 
ing disciples. How would it be possible for another 
to do as much for them as He had done? Who, in- 
deed, besides Jesus, could feed the hungry multitude, 
heal the sick, cure loathsome diseases, quiet the angry 
waves of the sea, and raise the dead at will? 

Had they not, too, been constantly instructed by 
His gracious words, and were they not able, in His 
name, to cast out devils? Why should they desire a 
change? Should He leave them, as He declared He 
must, how would they then be able to do the won- 
drous things which His presence had enabled them to 
accomplish? 
[62] . 



the lord's ascension 



63 



Notwithstanding all this, Jesus again assured them 
that even for their sake, it would be better for Him to 
go away. Should He remain with them personally, 
His presence would be confined to one locality at a 
time, and this would make it necessary for some who 
wished to meet Him to travel long distances. But 
the Holy Spirit, which was to come to the earth in 
His place, could be found by all at one time, wherever 
they might be. 

When on earth in person, Christ was seen by saint 
and sinner alike ; but the Spirit, which He sent to rep- 
resent Himself while He is away in heaven, is never 
seen, but may be known through faith in Christ. The 
unbelieving world does not know this heavenly Visit- 
ant, because He is felt rather than seen. Read John 
14:17. 

To those, however, who accept Christ by faith, the 
Spirit becomes an indwelling power, by which the pos- 
sessor is enabled to overcome the world and sinful flesh. 

As the disciples had been connected with heaven 
through attachment to, and dwelling with, the personal 
Christ, so now, since He has gone to heaven, He has 
provided an indwelling Presence, by which all His be- 
lievers may have access to Him where He is. So, then, 
whatever Christ was to His disciples by His personal 
presence, even such He is now to every one who comes 
to Him by faith, through the Holy Spirit, which God 
bestows as freely as He has given His only begot- 
ten Son. 

Christ was about to leave this world, where He had 
spent thirty-three years of earth life, for the throne 
of glory, which He had once before enjoyed with the 
Father. But still, He did not for a moment forget those 



6 4 



THE COMING KING 



who were to remain behind, and in His place become 
the light of the world, finishing His work. See Mat- 
thew 5 : 14-16 ; Hebrews 2:3; Acts 1 :8. 

He had before prayed that God might not take them 
out of the world, but rather that they might be kept 
from its evil. Read John 17 : 15. So on the eve of His 
leaving them, He gave the blessed promise, " Lo, ] am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Mat- 
thew 28 :20. 

Coming near to Bethany, the disciples gathered about 
the Saviour. As He looked in their faces, a peculiar 
light seemed to cover His countenance; and as He 
stretched out His hands in the act of blessing them, He 
was taken up slowly from them. Gazing at Him in His 
ascent, the wondering disciples saw Him enter a cloud 
of bright glory, and He was lost to their sight. 

In deep amazement their gaze was fixed on the 
point where they had last seen their beloved Lord, 
when suddenly a voice was heard near them. Turning, 
they saw two shining beings, who brought them the 
comforting message, "This same Jesus, which is taken 
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:11. 

Christ had triumphed. - He had come from heaven 
to earth to take man's nature, and been born in Beth- 
lehem's lowly manger ; He had been subject to His 
earthly parents ; had w 7 orked by the side of Joseph at 
the carpenter's trade ; had known weariness in His 
journeyings ; had prayed all night on the mountainside ; 
in pity had fed the famishing multitudes ; had healed 
the sick and raised the dead ; had been rejected of men, 
scourged, and crucified ; and had ascended in the form of 
man to sit on the right hand of God. See Hebrews 8:1,2. 




Christ our Mediator 
and Advocate 



For there is one God, and one Mediator be- 
tween God and men, the Man Christ 
Jesus." I Timothy 2 : 5. 



If two persons are involved in a difficulty, and can- 
not agree, it is a common custom for some friend to act 
as a mediator or arbitrator between the two. In this 
capacity Jesus Christ acts between God and man. Man 
is estranged from God. In his sinful condition he is 
not reconciled to the government of God ; for we read 
that the "carnal [natural] mind is enmity against God; 
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed 
can be." Romans 8:7. It must be changed before it 
can be subject to God's government, and that can be 
done only by the power of God. Since the fall of 
man by sin, all men are carnal. Even the apostle Paul 
said, " ] am carnal, sold under sin." Romans 7 : 14. 

In order to save man, it was necessary that a divine 
sacrifice should be made for the sins of the world. 
This was provided for by the death of Jesus Christ. 
But the death of Christ alone could not save man. 
Christ must rise from the dead, and then, in His divine 
and human nature blended, act as the Mediator between 
every repenting sinner and the Father, pleading in the 
sinner's behalf the merits of His sacrifice. 

Before Christ came in the flesh, this office of media- 
torship was represented by the priesthood, especially 
5 [65] 



66 



THE COMING KING 



by the high priest of the Jewish nation. As the high 
priest was to bear upon his shoulders, graven in stone, 
the names of all the tribes of Israel, representing the 
people of God (Exodus 28:9-12), so Christ takes upon 
Himself the task of bearing all His people, and bring- 
ing them into harmony with the government of God. 

We should not forget that God has no feeling of 
hatred toward the sinner ; for He so loved mankind 
that He gave His own Son to die in the sinner's place. 
He is not a hard master, whose anger must be appeased. 
He loves the sinner, and because of that love, He gave 
His Son to die for him, that the sinner might be sep- 
arated from his sin, which, if not removed, must forever 
separate him from God and happiness. Through Jesus 
Christ as mediator, God, though the Author of all 
things, and the One who has been wronged by sin, 
takes the first step toward a reconciliation. 

So we read: "All things are of God, who hath 
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given 
to us the ministry of reconciliation ; to wit, that God 
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not 
imputing their trespasses unto them ; and hath commit- 
ted unto us the word of reconciliation." Christ, having 
shown by His sacrifice that God still loves the sinner, 
now sends out His ministers, praying us, praying all 
mankind, to be reconciled to God. See 2 Corinthians 
5:17-20. 

Christ comes to us as a friend and helper, as one who 
has influence and power with God. He brings to us 
the terms by w T hich, if we accept them, we may be 
restored to favor with God. These conditions are hon- 
orable to God and merciful to us. Since Jesus has 
died for us, the law of God will not be lowered by our 



CHRIST, OUR MEDIATOR AND ADVOCATE 67 



salvation. He can "be just, and the justifier of him 
which believeth in Jesus." Romans 3 : 26. Christ, in 
answer to our faith, gives us His righteousness, which 
is just what the law of God demands, to cover all our 
sins. So we have His death for our death, and His life 
for our life. Accepting this gracious offer, sinners and 
aliens become children and saints of God. 

Christ is also our Advocate. Hence we read; "If 
any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, 
Jesus Christ the righteous.' ' 1 John 2:1. An advocate 
is one who pleads the cause of another. Every being 
has a case at the bar of God. "We must all appear 
before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one 
may receive the things done in his body, according to 
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Corin- 
thians 5 : 10. If we have Christ for our Advocate, why 
should we fear? He is the only begotten of the Father ; 
but it is as man that He represents us and pleads for 
us. The Mediator, the Advocate, is the "Man Christ 
Jesus." Read Hebrews 2:17, 18. 

Behold the wonderful provisions of divine grace! 
The Son of God dies as a sacrifice for oui; sins. He is 
also the Mediator, pleading with us to accept the gospel 
of salvation, which, at so great a price He has made it 
possible for us to secure. With the sweat of Gethsem- 
ane upon His brow, with the blood of the sacrifice drip- 
ping from pierced hands, feet, and side, in suffering un- 
speakable, and with love unutterable, He appeals to us, 
saying, " Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and 1 will give you rest." Matthew 11 : 28. Then 
when we come to Him, He bears our case upon His 
heart ; and when we repent, He pleads our case before 
the Father and obtains for us a pardon. 



He Will Come Again 




'* Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into 
heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up from 
you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:11. 



AT the close of the Passover 
■^fi Supper, just before entering upon 
His night of agony in Gethsemane, the 
Saviour told His disciples that He was 
soon going away from them. This made them very 
sorrowful ; but the Master then gave the words of com- 
fort and assurance which have been the hope of the 
faithful and true through all succeeding ages: — 

" Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, 
believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many 
mansions: if it were not so, J would have told you. 
1 go to prepare a place for you. And if 1 go and pre- 
pare a place for you, 1 will come again, and receive you 
unto Myself; that where 1 am, there ye may be also." 
John 14:1-3. 

In these words our Saviour tells of the glorious city, 
the New Jerusalem, that is being prepared in His 
" Father's house," — the home of God. Already there 
were many mansions in this beautiful city. When 
Jesus should go back to heaven, He would prepare other 
mansions for them, and for all the righteous who should 
live after them. 

Abraham looked forward to the time when he should 
have a home in this city. " For he looked for a city 
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is 
God." Hebrews 11:10. 
[68] 



HE WILL COME AGAIN 69 

The apostle-prophet John minutely describes this 
city in the twenty-first chapter of Revelation. He 
tells of its foundations, describes its walls and gates, 
and gives a very realistic account of this home of the 
saved. 




" If ] go and prepare a place for you, ] will come again." 



But to the followers of Jesus, the central thought in 
these verses is the statement, " ] will come again." This 
is the consummation of the great plan of redemption. 
Then the "ransomed of the Lord," the victorious of 
the race that were banished from their inheritance by 
sin, "shall return, and come to Zion with songs and 
everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy 
and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." 
Isaiah 35 : 10. 

" The doctrine of the second advent is the very key- 
note of the sacred Scriptures. From the day when the 
first pair turned their sorrowing steps from Eden, the 
children of faith have waited the coming of the Prom- 
ised One to break the destroyer's power and bring them 
again to the lost paradise.'' 



7° 



THE COMING KING 



The Old Testament abounds in prophecies concern- 
ing the return of our Lord. Even before the flood, this 
grand truth, as well as that of the judgment, was un- 
derstood. " Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, proph- 
esied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh, with 
ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon 
all." Jude 14, 15. 

The prophet Zechariah testifies of the same event : 
"The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with 
Thee." Zechariah 14:5. And the Saviour tells us that 
"the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the 
holy angels with Him." Matthew 2 5 : 3 1 . 

The " saints " spoken of in the foregoing text are 
the hosts of angels which accompany our Lord at His 
second coming to earth. This is made clear by the 
words of our Saviour in the preceding text. It is "all 
the holy angels " who come with Him. Heaven will 
be emptied ; for all its bright dwellers will accompany 
their Lord on His wonderful journey from heaven to 
earth. 

The angels have a most important part to act when 
the Son of man " appears in the clouds of heaven." 
For "He shall send His angels with a great sound of 
a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from 
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." 
Matthew 24:31. 

Then when the elect are so gathered, both the " dead 
in Christ " who have been raised from their graves, and 
those who " are alive and remain," will " be caught up 
together ... in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the 
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Then 
Paul exhorts us to "comfort -one another with these 
words." 1 Thessalonians 4:17, 18. 



HE WILL COME AGAIN 



71 



From the depths of sorrow and affliction, the patri- 
arch Job looked forward to the second coming of Christ 
for his sure and final reward. " ] know that my Re- 
deemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day 
upon the earth : and though after my skin worms de- 
stroy this body, yet in my flesh shall 1 see God : whom 
1 shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and 
not another/' Job 19:25-27. 




"J know that my Redeemer liveth. ... " Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be 
In my flesh shall ] see God." glad ; ... for He cometh to judge the earth." 



Job was not alone in this consolation. David, the 
sweet singer of Israel, contemplating the victorious 
return of Christ, said, " Let the heavens rejoice, and let 
the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness 
thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein : 



72 



THE COMING KING 



then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the 
Lord: for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the 
earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, 
and the people with His truth." "Our God shall 
come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour 
before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round 
about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, 
and to the earth, that He may judge His people." 
Psalms 96:11-13; 5°:3>4- 

With burning eloquence, from lips touched with 
hallowed fire from heaven's altar, the gospel-prophet 
exclaims : " He will swallow up death in victory ; and 
the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces ; 
and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from 
off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it. And 
it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we 
have waited for Him, and He will save us : this is the 
Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and 
rejoice in His salvation." And of the righteous dead 
who receive immortal life at this time, he says, " Thy 
dead men shall Jive, together with my dead body shall 
they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: 
for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall 
cast out the dead." Isaiah 25 : 8, 9 ; 26 : 19. 

The apostle Paul testifies: "And unto them that 
look for Him shall He appear the second time with- 
out sin unto salvation." Hebrews 9:28. 

At His first advent, our Saviour bore the sins of 
the world in Gethsemane and on Calvary. At His 
second advent, He will come bearing no sin, but as 
the mighty and glorious King, to take all His faithful 
children to Himself forever. Read Matthew 25 : 31. 

Our Saviour Himself says of this coming, "For 



HE WILL COME AGAIN 



73 



the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father 
with His angels; and then he shall reward every man 
according to his works." Matthew 16:27. 

All along the ages, the saints of God, suffering for 
their faith in gloomy prisons, in the torture-chamber, 
racked upon the wheel, bound to the stake, suffering 
the tortures of fire and flame, — these have borne blessed 
testimony to their faith in the personal, literal, and 
soon coming of their beloved I^ord, for the advance- 
ment of whose precious cause they counted not their 
lives as dear. 

It was this hope that cheered their weary spirits 
and buoyed them up amid their sufferings. The wise 
and gentle Melancthon, companion of L,uther, declared 
that " this aged world is not far from its end." And, 
as if echoing the same thought, LrUther himself asser- 
ted: "I persuade myself verily, that the day of judg- 
ment will not be absent full three hundred years. God 
will not, cannot suffer this wicked world much longer." 
"The great day is drawing near in which the king- 
dom of abominations shall be overthrown." 

One of the early Christians declares that "being 
assured of Christ's personal resurrection, and conse- 
quently of their own, at His coming, for this cause 
they despised death and were found to be above it." 
If they must sleep in the grave, they were willing, 
that they "might rise free." 

These godly suffering ones looked for the "I,ord 
to come from heaven in the clouds with the glory of 
the Father," "bringing to the just the times of the 
kingdom." 

Calvin, the great reformer, urges Christians "not to 
hesitate, desiring the day of Christ's coming as of all 



74 



THE COMING KING 



events most auspicious"; "the whole family of the 
faithful," he declares, "will keep in view that day." 
He further asserts that "we must hunger after Christ, 
we must seek, contemplate, till the dawning of the 
great day, when our Lord will fully manifest the glory 
of His kingdom." 

Baxter declares that "the thoughts of the coming 
of the Lord are most sweet and joyful to me." "If 
death be the last enemy to be destroyed at the resur- 
rection, we may learn how earnestly believers should 
long and pray for the second coming of Christ, when 
this full and final conquest shall be made." " This is 
the day that all believers should long, and hope, and 
wait for, as being the accomplishment of all the work 
for their redemption, and all the desires and endeavors 
of their souls." "Hasten, O Lord, this blessed day." 

John Knox, Scotland's devoted reformer, exclaimed 
fervently, "Has not our Lord Jesus carried up our flesh 
into heaven? and shall He not return? — We know 
that He shall return, and that with expedition." 

Latimer and Ridley, both martyrs for Jesus Christ, 
and for their faith in Him, rejoiced in the same blessed 
hope of His second coming. Among the writings of 
Ridley, we find the following beautiful and inspiring 
sentiment: "The world without doubt — this I do be- 
lieve, and therefore I say it — draws to an end. Let 
us with John, the servant of God, cry in our hearts 
unto our Saviour Christ, 'Come, Lord Jesus, come.'" 

This blessed doctrine, then, was the hope and in- 
spiration of the early church. The "church in the 
wilderness" rejoiced in it; and the godly reformers, 
who counted naught dear that they might win Christ, 
anticipated with joy unspeakable the glorious day when 



EE WILL COME AGAIN 



75 



their absent Lord would come again. It is no new 
doctrine, hatched in the foolish brain of some latter- 
day enthusiast, and taught by his fanatical followers. 
Nay, verily ; but it has been the one glorious hope of 
the faithful, from the days of righteous Enoch, until 
now, when the whole creation, longing to be delivered, 
indeed " groaneth and travaileth in pain." 

The second coming of Christ will be literal and 
personal, and in view of all the world. As the sor- 
rowing disciples were earnestly looking into heaven 
to catch the last glimpse of their departing L,ord, two 
shining angels appeared to comfort them with the joy- 
ful promise : — 

"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into 
heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you 
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have 
seen Him go into heaven." Acts i:n. 

O joyful assurance ! " This same Jesus " who had 
dwelt among them, who had eaten with them, who had 
taught them, who had walked up and down with them 
through the cities of Israel, who had preached to the 
poor, fed the hungry, ministered to the sorrowing, 
healed the sick, raised the dead, and whom John says 
" our hands have handled," is coming back to earth again. 

"This same Jesus!" With these words ringing in 
their ears, the disciples returned to Jerusalem with 
hearts full of joy and with tongues and lips eloquent 
with the voice of praise. To them the future hope 
had become a reality. Their Saviour was not lost to 
them. He would come again. 

How will He come? — Listen to the words of the 
angels : " In like manner as ye have seen Him go into 
heaven." 



76 



THE COMING KING 



How did He go? — Personally, bodily. As He stood 
among them, commissioning them regarding their fu- 
ture labors, "He was taken up." And as He rose with 
pierced hands outstretched in blessing, "a cloud re- 
ceived Him out of their sight." 

"Shall so come in like manner." They saw Him 
ascend. On His return, "every eye shall see Him." 
Revelation 1:7. 

"A cloud received Him out of their sight." This 
must have been a cloud of angels who had come to 
escort Him on His return to His Father's house. 

Of His coming back to earth, John says, " Behold, 
He cometh with clouds." Revelation 1:7. Accompany- 
ing Him are all the angels of glory, whose number is 
given as " ten thousand times ten thousand [a hundred 
million] and thousands of thousands." Revelation 5:11. 

That there will be many deceptions abroad regard- 
ing the second coming of Christ is evidenced by His 
own words of warning. In answer to the questions of 
the disciples regarding this event, He said, " Take heed 
that no man deceive you." He then pointed out some 
of the deceptions that were to arise : — 

Some would come, saying, "I am Christ," and many 
such pretenders have arisen. There were to be " false 
prophets" who would show "great signs and won- 
ders." Some would say, " Behold, He is in the desert." 
Others, "He is in the secret chamber." 

There will be all kinds of theories and beliefs, to 
lull to sleep the souls of men. But our Lord brushes 
all these away with the solemn statement : — 

"As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth 
even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the 
Son of man be." Matthew 24:27. 



HE WILL COME AGAIN 



77 



But the deceptions of the enemy are so plausible 
that "if it were possible, they shall deceive the very 
elect." Matthew 24 : 24. 




" As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west." 



To the elect of these days our Lord has left word, 
"Take heed that no man deceive you." After explicit 
statements of what might be expected, He says, "Be- 
hold, I have told you before." Matthew 24 : 25. All 
who fail to heed these warnings, will certainly be 
without excuse when they stand before their Lord at 
His appearing. 

If we study the teachings of Christ and of the apos- 
tles who have testified of His second coming, we need 
not be deceived. Of one thing we may be sure, the 
conversion of a sinner or the death of a saint cannot 
fill these requirements. 

Close your eyes as firmly as you may, and you can- 
not hide the sight of the lightning's flash. The light 
which shines from the bolt that crashes from the cloud 



7S 



THE COMING KING 



in the far east, is seen with equal distinctness at the 
verge of the western horizon. The appearance of the 
Son of man in the clonds of heaven will be as visible 
to the whole world as a flash of lightning. 

To those who reject these warnings, the mission of 
Christ to earth will not be one of peace. Of these the 
psalmist writes, "Thou shaJt break them with a rod 
of iron; Thou shah dash them in pieces like a potter's 
vessel." Psalms 2 : 9. 

Paul says of that day, "And to you who are troub- 
led rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed 
from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire 
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that 
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who 
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the 
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His 
power." 2 Thessalonians 1 : 7-9. 




"Thou shaft dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.' 




In the Saviour's teachings, He had instructed His 
disciples in regard to His second advent to the world. 
But they had but a vague idea when it would take 
place. They expected Him to set up a temporal king- 
dom on earth, and probably connected this event with 
His second coming. 

As Jesus was departing from the temple, after His 
triumphant entry into Jerusalem, His disciples directed 
His attention to its glory. It was the pride of the Jewish 
nation, and they supposed it would stand forever. It 
was a wonderful building ; its construction had required 
the labor of thousands of men for more than forty years. 
Josephus, in his description of it, said that the stones 
were fifty feet long, twenty-four feet broad, and six- 
teen feet thick. See Mark 13:1. Antiq. b. /j, c. xi. 

"What must have been the astonishment of the dis- 
ciples as Jesus turned to them sorrowfully, and said, 
"See ye not all these things? Verily 1 say unto you, 
There shall not be left here one stone upon another, 
that shall not be thrown down." Matthew 24:2. 

All the traditions the disciples had held, and their 
own beliefs, seemed slipping away from them. They 
remembered the instructions of their Lord in regard 
to His second coming, the end of the world, and the 
setting up of His kingdom ; and now He had added 

[79] 



8o 



THE COMING KING 




to this the plain statement that Jeru- 
salem and the temple would be ut- 
terly destroyed. What could it mean? 
Had they misunderstood Him? 

Silently they walked by His side 
to the Mount of Olives, and when 
He had seated Himself, they came 
to Him with questions the an- 
swer to which would for- 
ever settle the matter. 
"When shall these 
things be? and what 
shall be the sign of Thy 
coming, and of the 
end of the 
world?" 

Were their 
questions out of place ? 
Did the Saviour re- 
buke them for unseemly curiosity? 
— No ! He knew that their motives in asking were sin- 
cere, and He proceeded carefully to instruct them in 
regard to the events referred to in their questions. 

The Saviour was always ready to give full and care- 
ful explanation and instruction to all who really de- 
sired to understand the truths taught by Him. To be 
sure, He often spoke in parables, many of which were 
not readily understood by the hearers, but to all who 
were interested sufficiently to ask for an explanation, 
He made His meaning simple and plain. Hence, to 
the inquiring disciples, the Saviour gave as recorded 
in Matthew 24, the prophecy in regard to the events 
that were to take place on this earth. 



Jesus and the Twelve on 
the Way to the Mount of Olives 



WHEN SHALL THESE THINGS BE? 8 1 

In these words of instruction are embodied the full 
and complete answer to their questions. Neither was 
it given for the benefit of these disciples alone. It 
was given to the disciples, that it might be handed 
down by them to all who would believe on the Sav- 
iour in all ages until He should finally come and 
take the faithful to Himself. It applies to our time, 
and with much greater force as we are nearing the 
closing scenes in the events recorded in this wonder- 
ful lesson. 

It is asserted by some, however, that the second 
advent is a subject with which we have nothing to 
do; that all knowledge of this great event is kept as 
a secret with the Almighty ; that He may come in one 
year, or His coming may be a thousand years in the 
future. If this is the case, then why did the Saviour 
take pains to make such definite statements in regard 
to it? Why did he give such positive waymarks to 
show when the day of His coming should be near, 
"even at the door?" 

If we can know nothing in regard to this impor- 
tant event which so intimately concerns us, we are 
forced to accept one of two conclusions: Either the 
Saviour undertook to make an explanation to the dis- 
ciples which He should not have entered into, or, try- 
ing to explain the matter, He failed to make it clear 
enough to be understood. Of course we cannot admit 
either one of these propositions, and hence are forced 
to believe that the Saviour considered that this sub- 
ject was important, and intended that we should under- 
stand it. 

The Lord has given us the most minute descrip- 
tion of the events to transpire on this earth, and has 
6 



82 



THE COMING KING 



also given accurate signs to show Avhen His coming is 
near, "even at the door." And although we may not 
know the day and the hour, yet our information is so 
definite that we may "see the day approaching/' and 
be prepared to meet our King, at His appearing, with 
joy, and not with grief. 

Our Iyord knew that the truths in regard to His 
second coming would be misunderstood. It is the one 
subject above all others upon which the enemy of all 
souls desires to keep us in ignorance. The knell of 
his doom is perceived ringing 
through every promise of the com- 
ing of our Lord. 

More than this, there is no sub- 
ject that so turns the hearts of men 
to God and converts souls to Christ, 
as the earnest proclamation of Bible 
truth in regard to the soon coming 
Saviour. Of course Sa- 
tan will do all in his 
power to blind the eyes 
of men to this truth, and 
to divert their attention 
from the events cluster- 
ing around it. 

Christ knew that 
errors would abound in 
regard to this subject, and 
prefaces His instruction 
with the warning, "Take 

heed that no man deceive you." Matthew 24 : 4. Now, 
in our study of this subject, let us be sure that our 
ears are open to receive the teachings of God's word, 




If the jar is full, you can pour nothing into it 
until the jar is first emptied. If our hearts are filled 
with our own ideas, and what we have learned from 
others, how can God's truth come in unless we 
empty our hearts completely, and ask Him to fill 
us with His word? 



WHEN SHALL THESE THINGS BE? 83 



and that we are not blinded by any ideas that we may 
have received, or by any theory . we may have held in 
regard to it. 

The question of the disciples was evidently two- 
fold ; first, When will the destruction of Jerusalem 
take place? and, secondly, What shall be the sign of 
the second coming of Christ, and of the end of the 
world? The Saviour's instruction, found in the twenty- 
fourth chapter of Matthew, deals with both these im- 
portant questions. 

The destruction of Jerusalem, the signs preceding 
it, the terrors accompanying it, and the relation which 
the followers of Jesus should sustain toward it, were 
fully explained to the listening disciples. 

But to those living in the last days, the instruc- 
tions given at this time are of the most vital impor- 
tance. Plainly laid down and carefully explained are 
the waymarks and milestones which mark the ap- 
proaching end of this world's history. And clearly 
are we told of the changeless nature of these evidences. 

" Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words 
shall not pass away." Matthew 24 : 35. 

"Watch ye therefore: . . . lest coming suddenly 
He find you sleeping. And what 1 say unto you 1 
say unto all, Watch." Mark 13:35-37. 




Ancient Jerusalem was spoken of by David as 
"beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, 
. . . the city of the great King." Psalms 48: 2. Its 
greatest attraction was the temple. Situated upon the 
hill of Zion, more anciently called Mount Moriah, it 
could be seen at a great distance. Built of great 
blocks of the whitest marble, finished with the most 
precious woods, and garnished with the most costly 
metals, the temple was regarded with wonder and awe 
by both Jew and Gentile. 

Not only was Jerusalem the capital city of the 
nation, but Jehovah had chosen it as the center of 
worship for all people. " For the Lord hath chosen 
Zion ; He hath desired it for His habitation." Psalms 
132:13. 

At the feast of the Passover and other national 
memorials, the tribes gathered to Jerusalem from all 
the land of Palestine. There those who had sin-offer- 
ings to make brought to the Lord their sacrifices. 
"There, for ages, holy prophets had uttered their mes- 
sages of warning. There, priests had waved their 
censers, and the cloud of incense, with the prayers of 
the worshipers, had ascended before God. There, 
daily the blood of slain lambs had been offered, point- 
ing forward to the Lamb of God. There, Jehovah had 

[85] 



86 



THE COMING KING 



revealed His presence in the cloud of glory above the 
mercy-seat." 

But Israel had been a rebellious nation. God's mes- 
sages of warning had been disregarded, His prophets 
had been imprisoned and slain, and His holy law that 
might have been their bulwark had been perverted 
and made "of none effect" by their "traditions." 

Jesus loved Jerusalem and would have saved the 
city and the nation, but they had rejected His mis- 
sion, despised His warnings, and both were doomed. 
Hence, shortly before His crucifixion, while denounc- 
ing the Pharisees, He closes with the sorrowful ex- 
clamation : — 

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the 
prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, 
how often would ] have gathered thy children together, 
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto 
you desolate." Matthew 23:37, 38. 

The Barren Fig=Tree 

Shortly before this time occurred the incident of 
the withered fig-tree. One author has aptly said, "The 
cursing of the fig-tree was an acted parable." 

Immediately after His triumphant entry into Jeru- 
salem, Jesus quietly withdrew from the temple, and, 
with His disciples went to Bethany. "Now in the 
morning as He returned into the city, He hungered. 
And when He saw a fig-tree in the way, He came 
to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only." 
Matthew 21 : 18, 19. 

The Levitical law permitted any one in need of 
food to take from the growing grain, or the fruit of 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM 



87 



the trees, that which was necessary to satisfy hunger. 
It would have been perfectly lawful for the Saviour 
to take of the fruit of the fig-tree to supply His need, 
if there had been fruit upon it. 

In the highlands about Jerusalem, it was true that 




"the time of figs was not yet." Mark 11:13. But 
in that orchard of bare trees there was one tree cov- 
ered with leaves. 

Now the fig-tree is peculiar, in that the fruit de- 
velops before the leaves appear. Whenever the leaves 
were fully grown there should be ripened fruit. 
Hence, when Jesus saw a fig-tree covered with leaves 
He had a right to expect figs upon it. But when 
He came to it, He "found nothing thereon, but leaves 



88 



THE COMING KING 



only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee 
henceforward forever. And presently the fig-tree with- 
ered away/* Matthew 21 : 19. 

The lesson from this "acted parable" is obvious. 
One tree in the orchard made great pretentions to 
thrift. It was covered with leaves, while the others 
were bare., Christ made it and its pretentions a sym- 
bol of the Jewish nation. 

The Jews were different from the nations around 
them. God had chosen them as His peculiar people, 
they laid great stress upon their birthright, and claimed 
righteousness above all others. But they had lost the 
characteristics of true godliness, and had become proud, 
hypocritical, greedy of gain, and cruel to those less 
successful than they. Their religion had degenerated 
to formal sendee in their synagogues and in the 
temple. 

Their outward claims to holiness were symbolized 
by the great show of leaves on the fig-tree of the par- 
able, and like this tree they bore no fruit toward God. 
The graces of humility, love, and benevolence, which 
to God are of great price, were lacking. 

The other trees in the orchard were yet bare and 
made no pretentions to fruit-bearing. They repre- 
sented the Gentiles, who laid no claim to righteous- 
ness, made no pretentions to holiness. Their "time 
was not yet." They were waiting for the season that 
would bring them the light of the gospel and hope in 
God. 

" And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw 
the fig-tree dried up from the roots." Mark 11:20. 
This circumstance fitly represented the doom of the 
Jewish nation. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM 89 

A Lesson for this Generation 

The lesson contained in this parable of the fig-tree 
was not given for the Jews alone. It stands as a 
warning to all professors of godliness, to all Chris- 
tians, to all churches, and for all time. This applica- 
tion is well expressed in the following words: — 

" In this generation there are many who are tread- 
ing on the same ground as were the unbelieving Jews. 
They have witnessed the manifestation of the power 
of God; the Holy Spirit has spoken to their hearts; 
but they cling to their unbelief and resistance. God 
sends them warnings and reproof, but they are not 
willing to confess their errors, and they reject His 
message and His messenger. The very means He uses 
for their recoverv becomes to them a stone of stumb- 
ling. 

u The prophets of God were hated by apostate Is- 
rael because through them their hidden sins were 
brought to light. Ahab regarded Elijah as his enemy 
because the prophet was faithful to rebuke the king's 
secret iniquities. So to-day the servant of Christ, the 
reprover of sin, meets with scorn and rebuffs. 

" Bible truth, the religion of Christ, struggles against 
a strong current of moral impurity. Prejudice is even 
stronger in the hearts of men now than in Christ's 
day. Christ did not fulfill men's expectations ; His 
life was a rebuke to their sins, and they rejected 
Him. 

"So now the truth of God's word does not har- 
monize with men's practices and their normal inclina- 
tion, and thousands reject this light. Men prompted 
by Satan, cast doubt upon God's word, and choose to 
exercise their independent judgment. They choose 



go 



THE COMING KING 



darkness rather than light, bnt they do it at the peril 
of their souls. 

"Those who caviled at the words of Christ, found 
ever-increasing cause for cavil, until they turned from 
the Truth and the Life. So it is now. God does not 
propose to remove every objection which the carnal 
heart may bring against His truth. To those who 
refuse the precious rays of light which would illumi- 
nate the darkness, the mysteries of God's word remain 
such forever. From them the truth is hidden. They 
walk blindly, and know not the ruin before them." 
—"Desire of Ages," pp. 387, 388. 

Higher criticism seeks to take from us our faith 
in God and in the definiteness and reliability of the 
Bible. The open infidelity which is honey-combing 
even denominational colleges and theological semina- 
ries is turning upon the religious world a ministry of 
theological dreamers and speculators. The old gospel 
is at a discount. The congregations do not want the 
plain truths of the Scriptures. The prediction of Paul 
is being fulfilled in our day : — 

" For the time will come when they will not en- 
dure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall 
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, 
and shall be turned unto fables.'' 2 Tim. 4 : 3, 4. 

Like the Athenians of old, many of the modern 
churchgoers desire little but "to tell, or to hear some 
new thing." To this class the Old Testament is obso- 
lete, the Ten Commandments are abolished, the proph- 
ets are out of date, the Revelation something hidden, 
and the teachings of Christ and the apostles mere par- 
ables and figments of speech. 



DESTRUCTION OE JERUSALEM 91 



Another Fig=Tree Parable 

For a moment let us consider another fig-tree par- 
able given by our Saviour, which lends emphasis to 
the foregoing lessons: — 

"A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vine- 
yard; and he came and 
sought fruit thereon, and 
found none. Then said he 
unto the dresser of his vine- 
yard, Behold, these three 
years 1 come seeking fruit 
on this fig-tree, and find 
none: cut it down; why 
cumbereth it the ground ? 

" And he answering said 
unto him, Lord, let it alone 
this year also, till 1 shall dig 
about it, and dung it: and 
if it bear fruit, well : and if 
not, then after that thou 
shalt cut it down." Luke 
13:6-9. 

For three years Jesus had 

labored for His people, the "These three years 1 come seeking fruit, . . . 

and find none : cut it down." 

house of Abraham. But each 

year brought little or no fruit. Of His mission it is 
said, "He came unto His own, and His own received 
Him not." John 1 : n. The great heart of Israel did 
not respond. Their religion remained mere outward 
show. There was no fruit, — "nothing but leaves." The 
test and waiting had not availed to save them, and 
their coming doom was prefigured by the withered, 
blasted fig-tree of Bethany. 




92 



Thk coming KING 



The City that Was Doomed 

Jesus loved His people with an unchanging love. 
It was with the deepest sorrow and agony of soul that 
He realized that they were, by the hardness of their 
impenitent hearts, sealing the doom of Jerusalem and 
their nation. 

At the time of the triumphant entry into Jerusa- 
lem, the joyous throng supposed they were escorting 
the Messiah to His seat on the throne of David, — 
that He would then take His place as king, deliv- 
erer, and temporal ruler of Israel. 

As the procession arrives at the brow of the hill 
overlooking Jerusalem, "the joy of the whole earth/' 
its great beauty comes into full view, bathed in the 
rays of the setting sun. The stately grandeur of the 
temple attracts all eyes. The shouts of the multitude 
are hushed, and they turn their eyes upon the Saviour, 
expecting to see Him, too, wrapped in admiration for 
the beauties of the city and the glories of the temple. 
But they were surprised and dismayed to see Him 
swayed by an agony of sorrow and weeping. And in 
anguish He exclaims: — 

"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this 
thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! — " 
He does not conclude the sentence, but in sorrowful 
tones adds, "but now they are hid from thine eyes/' 
Luke 19 -.42. 

" Had her people walked in the counsel of God, 
Jerusalem would have 'stood forever/ She might have 
become the queen of kingdoms, free in the strength 
of her God-given power. There would then have been 
no armed soldiers waiting at her gates, no Roman 
banners waving from her walls. From Jerusalem the 



DESTRUCTION OE JERUSALEM 93 



dove of peace would have gone to all nations. She 
would have been the crowning glory of the world." 

"At least in this thy day." "They had rejected 
their Saviour, and were about to crucify their Re- 




" ]f thou hadst known . . . the things which belong unto thy peace ! " 



deemer. And when the sun should set that night the 
doom of Jerusalem would be forever sealed."* 

Forty years afterward the Roman army, under Titus, 
after a prolonged siege, took Jerusalem, slaughtered its 
inhabitants, laid low the temple, and destroyed the city. 

The House Left Desolate 

As Jesus left the temple for the last time, His 
closing words to the multitude were, "Behold, your 
house is left unto you desolate." Matthew 23 : 38. 

* " Christ our Saviotir" p. 69. 



94 



THE COMING KING 



Our Saviour's last discourse in the temple was one 
of stern rebuke to the scribes and Pharisees. For 
three years He had labored earnestly and untiringly 
to arouse the leaders of Israel to repentance. 

But at this time the utter hopelessness of the effort 
seems pressed upon Him with a crushing force. He 
knows that this is the last opportunity He will have 
to bring these truths to the people. He says, "Ye 
shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed 
is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. ,, Mat- 
thew 23 : 39. His voice will never again be heard in 
the temple. 

He realized that in a few days would be enacted 
the disgraceful scenes of His arrest, condemnation, and 
crucifixion. Yet He promised that after His voice 
should no more be heard among them, He would still 
send faithful witnesses to instruct and warn them. Yet 
they would pursue toward them the same course that 
they had toward Him. 

"Behold," He says, "] send unto you prophets, 
and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall 
kill and crucify ; and some of them shall ye scourge 
in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to 
city : that upon you may come all the righteous blood 
shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel 
unto the blood of Zecharias son of Barachias, whom 
ye slew between the temple and the altar." Matthew 
23 : 34, 35^ 

The spirit of the impenitent persecutors of old was 
actuating the people of that day. In the face of all 
the light of the past, they, by their present course 
gave sanction to all the evil work of the past, and 
would thus be held accountable. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM 95 



As the Master was departing, the disciples came 
to show Him the wonders, and strength, and beauty 
of the temple. "And Jesus said unto them, See ye 
not all these things? verily 1 say unto you, There 
shall not be left here one stone upon another, that 
shall not be thrown down." Matthew 24 : 2. 

The iniquity of Israel and the utter destruction to 
come upon the nation for their sins were foretold in 
Micah 3:10-12. "They build up Zion with blood, 
and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge 
for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and 
the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they 
lean upon the Lord, and say, is not the Lord among 
us? none evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion 
for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall 
become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the 
high places of the forest/'* 

But the disciples could not understand how those 

*Bishop Newton writes that "we read in the Jewish Talmud" 
that ' ' ' Terentius Ruf us, who was left to command the army at Jeru- 
salem,' did with a plowshare tear up the foundation of the temple. 
. . . Eusebius, too, affirms ' that it was plowed up by the Romans, 
and he saw it lying in ruins.' The city also shared the same fate." 
— "Dissertations on the Prophecies,'''' London, 1840, p. 372. 

Josephus testifies that ' ' as soon as the army had no more people 
to slay, . . . Caesar gave orders that they should demolish the entire 
city and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as 
were of the greatest eminency, — namely, Phasaelus, Hippicus, and 
Mariamme, and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west 
side. This wall was spared in order to afford a camp for such as were 
to lie in garrison : as were the towers also spared in order to denomi- 
nate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, 
which the Roman valor had subdued. But for all the rest of the wall, 
it was so completely leveled with the ground, by those that dug it up 
to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those who came 
thither believe it had ever been inhabited." — "Wars of the Jews" 
Whiston's Translation, Book 7, chap. 1, page /. 



9 6 



THE COMING KING 



massive walls could be thrown down. Portions of this 
wall were very ancient, and had withstood the siege 
of Nebuchadnezzar. And they had been so added to 
and strengthened that they seemed impregnable to any 
weapons of siege and warfare known at that day. 
This foretold destruction was a hard saying to them. 
They could not comprehend it. 

When Shall These Things Be? 

Soon after Jesus' departure from the temple, "as 
He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came 
unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these 
things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, 
and of the end of the world?" Matthew 24:3. 

" With the overthrow of Jerusalem the disciples 
associated the events of Christ's personal coming in 
temporal glory to take the throne of universal empire, 
to punish the impenitent Jews, and to break from off 
the nation the Roman yoke."* The Lord had told 
them of His second coming, and they associated this 
with the foretold destruction of Jerusalem. 

From the form of their question, and the logic of 
subsequent events, it is evident that the disciples had 
but a vague conception of the nature of either event. 
It is a fact that they did not understand the true 
mission of Christ to earth until taught by the Holy 
Spirit after His ascension. They could not divest 
themselves of the popular opinion that Christ would 
soon set up a kingdom upon earth, as shown by the 
following references : — 

Shortly before the triumphant entry of Jesus into 
Jerusalem, James and John, through their mother Sa- 



**' Great Controversy " p. 25. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM 



97 



lome, asked that when His kingdom should be set up 
(referring to His supposed temporal kingdom on earth) 
one might have the seat of authority on His right 
hand, and the other on His left. See Matthew 20 : 20 ; 
Mark 10 : 35-38. 

Although at this time such a spirit was rebuked 
by our Lord, yet at the institution of the Lord's sup- 
per, this ambition still possessed the disciples. "And 
there was also a strife among them, which of them 
should be accounted the greatest/ ' Luke 22 : 24. 

At the end of the forty days in which Jesus was with 
His disciples after the resurrection, the establishment 
of an earthly kingdom was still their paramount 
thought. As He stood with them on the mount of 
Olives, they asked the very last question they ever 
addressed to Him on earth : " Lord, wilt thou at this 
time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? " Acts 1:6. 

So strong a hold did the early education of the 
disciples have upon them that it was not possible for 
Jesus to give them all the important truths which He 
desired them to receive. This condition is expressed 
in the words of His memorable talk with them at the 
Passover Supper: " ] have yet many things to say unto 
you, but ye cannot bear them now." John 16:12. 

For this reason He was cautious in His answer to 
the question, "When shall these things be? and what 
shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of 
the world ? " Matthew 24 : 3. 

Their minds were still clouded, and He did not 
answer their question by considering separately the 
destruction of Jerusalem and His second coming. Had 
He told them fully of the impending destruction of 
Jerusalem, the utter ruin of their nation, and the ter~ 
T 



9§ 



THE COMING KING 



rible events accompanying, they could not have en- 
dured it. Hence, in His instruction, He blended the 
two events, leaving them to study out the application. 
But to them as to us He sent the infallible guide, 
the Holy Spirit, so that no error need be made. 
"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He 
will guide you into all truth." John 16:13. 

In the same manner He has left us to grasp the 
truths of His great prophecy which meet their fulfill- 
ment down through the intervening years to the end 
of time. 

As we study our Saviour's words we can but con- 
clude that much of this chapter is twofold in its ap- 
plication. Dire calamities to the Jews were foretold, 
and startling events were to warn them of the im- 
pending destruction of the nation. To us the Jewish 
nation is a type. God's dealing with them is an ob- 
ject-lesson to us. All these things prophesied of the 
Jews are to have a broader and more complete fulfill- 
ment as we near the end of time, in which all the 
earth will be involved. This method of interpretation 
is aptly expressed in the words of another: — 

"When He referred to the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, His prophetic words reached beyond that event 
to the final conflagration in that day when the Lord 
shall rise out of His place to punish the world for 
their iniquity, when the earth shall disclose her blood, 
and shall no more cover her slain. This entire dis- 
course was given, not for the disciples only, but for 
those who should live in the last scenes of the earth's 
history." — "Desire of Ages p. 628* 



*" The experience of the people of that generation who rejected 
the message concerning His first advent, and were then led on step by 



DESTRUCTION oE JERUSALEM 99 



In both these great events Satan was to come in 
with all the powers of cnnning and deception in which 
his centuries of evil had made him the master. " Take 
heed," said Jesns, "that no man deceive you," and, 
"Behold, 1 have told you before." Matthew 24:4, 25. 

He also said, " Many shall come in My name, say- 
ing, 1 am Christ; and shall deceive many." Vs. 5. 
Between the time of these words and the destruction 
of Jerusalem many false messiahs appeared, claiming 
to work miracles, and proclaiming that the deliverance 
of the Jewish nation was at hand.f 

step to crucify the Lord of glory, and who thus brought the end of 
their nation in their own time, was typical of the experience of the 
generation who should reject the message of the second advent, and 
thus crucify the Lord afresh, and bring the end of the world in their 
time. The prophecy concerning these two generations, connected by 
a very brief outline of the ecclesiastical history of the intervening 
centuries, constitutes what is usually designated our Lord's great 
prophecy. Viewed from this standpoint, it will be seen that the an- 
swer of Jesus to the inquiry of His disciples is a continuous prophecy 
covering step by step, in consecutive order, the whole period of time 
until He should be manifested in glory ; but that it gives a more full 
outline of the experiences of those two generations, one of which re- 
jected His first advent and as a consequence witnessed the end of 
their nation, while the other should reject His second advent and in 
consequence witness the end of the world. So closely related are the 
experiences of these two generations, that the prophecy which leads 
up to the destruction of Jerusalem has a secondary fulfillment in those 
events in the last generation which lead up to the destruction of the 
world." — " Two Great Crises" by W. W. Prescott, in Review and 
Herald, April 15, igog. 

t "After the introduction of the new era, Judea continued a Ro- 
man province. . . . Never was a people so turbulent, so excited with 
expectation of a deliverer who should restore the ancient kingdom, so 
fired with bigotry and fanaticism, as were the wretched Jews of this 
period. One christ came after another. Revolt was succeeded by 
revolt, instigated by some pseudo-prophet or pretended king." — Rid- 
path's " History of the World" Vol. I, p. 840. 

" Very soon after our Saviour's decease appeared Simon Magus 



IOO 



THE COMING KING 



"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is 
Christ, or there; believe it not." Vss. 23-26. From 
the secret seances of Spiritualism, from the temples of 
Christian Science, from the Mormon desert, and through 
many other manifestations already extant do we now see 
such open and blasphemous fulfillment of this proph- 
ecy as was never dreamed of in the days of the Jew- 
ish nation, and greater deceptions are to follow. 

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars : 
see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must 
come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall 
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." 
Matthew 24: 6, 7. 

After the ascension of Christ, and before the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, there was a period of unrest 
among the nations. There were plots and counter- 
plots, there were preparations for, and rumors of, wars. 
But "the end is not yet." Not until the armies of 
Rome were actually encamped before Jerusalem were 

(Acts 8:9, 10), 'and bewitched the people of Samaria.' . . . He 
boasted himself likewise among the Jews, as the Son of God. Of the 
same stamp and character was also Dositheus the Samaritan, who pre- 
tended that he was the Christ foretold by Moses." — "Dissertations on 
the Prophecies,'" Bishop Newton, London, 1840^ p. 375. 

Josephus states that in a. d. 46, a magician named Theudas " per- 
suaded a great part of the people to take their effects with them, and 
follow him to the River Jordan. For he told them he was a prophet ; 
and that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and afford 
them an easy passage over it. ' ' But the Roman soldiers fell upon the 
company, and slew many of them. " They also took Theudas alive, 
and cut off his head, and carried it to Jerusalem." — "Antiquities of 
the Jews" Book 20, chap. 5. 

At a later date an Egyptian false prophet arose who gathered in 
the wilderness a body of thirty thousand men. Josephus stamps him 
as a cheat, but his professed object was to take Jerusalem by force of 
arms, and so relieve the Jews from the Roman yoke. — See Josephus'' 
w Wars of the Jews" Book 2, chap. 13, 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IOI 



the disciples to realize that the time was at hand for 
the fulfillment of the Saviour's prophecy concerning 
the destruction of the city. Then, in response to the 
warning given them, they forsook the city and fled to 
the mountains. 

But these "wars and rumors of wars" were largely 
confined to conflicts between insurgent Jews and their 
enemies. The portion of the Lord's great prophecy 
which applied to that period had little to do with 
anything outside the events which affected the Jewish 
nation.* While there were serious outbreaks which 
resulted in the slaying of scores of thousands of the 
Jews, there were no such world-wide preparations for 

*The condition of the nations which fulfill this feature of the 
prophecy is thus stated by Bishop Newton : — 

" It is said, moreover, that ' nation shall rise against nation, and 
kingdom against kingdom.' Here, as Grotius well observes, 'Christ 
declares that greater disturbances than those which happened under 
Caligula, should fall out in the latter times of Claudius and in the reign 
of Nero.' That of ' nation against nation ' [or race against race] por- 
tended the dissentions, insurrections, and mutual slaughter of the 
Jews and those of other nations who dwelt in the same cities together ; 
as particularly at Csesarea,' where the Jews and Syrians contended 
about the right of the city, which contention at length proceeded so far 
that above twenty thousand Jews were slain, and the city was cleared 
of the Jewish inhabitants. 

' ' At this blow the whole nation of the Jews were exasperated ; 
and dividing themselves into parties, they burned and plundered the 
neighboring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense 
slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in revenge, destroyed not a less 
number of the Jews, 1 and every city,' as Josephus expresseth it, ' was 
divided into armies.' 

' c At Scythopolis the inhabitants compelled the Jews who resided 
among them to fight against their own countrymen, and after the vic- 
tory, basely setting upon them by night, murdered about thirteen 
thousand of them, and spoiled their goods. 

' 1 At Ascalon they killed two thousand and five hundred, at Ptole- 
mais two thousand, and made not a few prisoners. The Tyrians put 



102 



THE COMING KING 



war, such arming of the nations, such war-clouds in 
the horizon, as we see among the world powers of to- 
day. This condition is fully discussed in other chap- 
ters in this book. 

"And there shall be famines, and pestilences, and 
earthquakes, in diverse pi aces.' ' Matthew 24:7. 

In Jerusalem a great store of provision had been 
laid up against the time of siege for which the Jews 
were preparing. But in their internal dissentions these 
stores were destroyed. The city was, in consequence, 
not well provisioned when the armies of Rome be- 
sieged it. A terrible famine ensued, which was more 
disastrous from the fact that the city was at that time 
filled with people from all parts of Judea who had 
come up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. So 
fierce was the famine that battles for bread were com- 
mon, and the eating of human flesh was resorted to.f 

many to death, and imprisoned more. The people of Gadara did like- 
wise, and all the other cities of Syria, in proportion as they hated or 
feared the Jews. 

" At Alexandria the old enmity was revived between the Jews and 
heathen, and many fell on both sides, but of the Jews to the number of 
fifty thousand. The people of Damascus, too, conspired against the 
Jews of the same city, and assaulting them unarmed, killed ten thou- 
sand of them." — "Dissertations " pp. 37 j, 378. 

During this time there were factional troubles at Rome. Albert 
Barnes, in his notes on this text, states that " Four emperors, Nero, 
Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, suffered violent deaths in the short space 
of eighteen months." These assassinations resulted for a time in vio- 
lent wars and much bloodshed. 

f" In the reign of Claudius Caesar," says Dr. Keith, " there were 
different famines. They continued to be severe for several years 
throughout the land of Judea. Pestilence succeeded them." 

Josephus mentions a serious famine in Jerusalem, and that 
Helena, queen of Adiabene ' ' sent some of her servants to Alexandria 
with money to buy a great quantity of corn, and others of them to 
Cyprus to bring a cargo of dried figs." — "Antiquities of the Jews,' 1 '' 
Book 20, chap. 2. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM 103 



Other famines occurred during this time of stress 
for the Jewish nation, but they were confined to nar- 
row limits, and were insignificant when compared with 
the recent famines in India, Russia, China, etc. More 
died in the famine of India in 1897 than perished 
from war, famine, earthquake, and pestilence in all the 
world during the forty years preceding the destruction 
of Jerusalem. 

Grim pestilence, which always accompanies famine, 
stalked abroad in the sorely smitten Jerusalem. But 
this visitation is not to be compared with the more 
recent epidemics of the black plague, the cholera, yel- 
low fever, etc., among some of the crowded nations of 
to-day. 

Wonderful signs were seen in Jerusalem before its 
overthrow,* and "the earth trembled." But this was 
as the rocking of a cradle compared with the earth- 
quakes at Iyisbon, San Francisco, Messina, and other 

*" Signs and wonders appeared, foreboding disaster and doom, 
the midst of the night an unnatural light shone over the temple and 
the altar. Upon the clouds at sunset were pictured chariots and men 
of war gathering for battle. The priests ministering by night in the 
sanctuary were terrified by mysterious sounds ; the earth trembled, 
and a multitude of voices were heard crying, ' Let us depart hence. ' 
The great eastern gate, which was so heavy that it could hardly be 
shut by a score of men, and which was secured by immense bars of 
iron fastened deep in the pavement of solid stone, opened at midnight, 
without visible agency. 

1 ' For seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets 
of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By 
day and by night he chanted the wild dirge, ' A voice from the east ; 
a voice from the west ; a voice from the four winds ; a voice against 
Jerusalem and the temple ; a voice against the bridegroom and the 
bride ; and a voice against all the people.' This strange being was 
imprisoned and scourged ; but no complaint escaped his lips. To 
insult and abuse he answered only, ' Woe to Jerusalem ! woe, woe to 
the inhabitants thereof ! ' His warning cry ceased not until he was 
slain in the siege he had foretold. " — ' ' Great Controversy, ' ' p. 30. See 
Josephus\ " Wars of the Jews" Book 6, chap. 



THE COMING KING 



recent sysmic convulsions, and more especially the 
great coming earthquake in which the whole earth is 
to be involved. See Revelation 16:18.* 

The more complete fulfillment of this prophecy is 
well set forth in the following forcible language: — 

"The Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation 
of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another ful- 
fillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a 
faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may 
behold the doom of a world that has rejected God's 
mercy and trampled upon His law. Dark are the 
records of human misery that earth has witnessed 
during its long centuries of crime. The heart sickens 
and the mind grows faint in contemplation. Terrible 
have been the results of rejecting the authority of 
heaven. But a scene yet darker is presented in the 
revelations of the future. The records of the past, — 
the long procession of tumults, conflicts and revolt!--* 
tions, the 'battle of the warrior, with confused noise, 

*There were earthquakes in various places, " 'particularly that in 
Crete in the reign of Claudius, mentioned by Philostratus in the life 
of Apollonius, and those also mentioned by Philostratus at Smyrnia, 
Miletus, Chios Samos,' in all which places some Jews inhabited ; and 
those at Rome mentioned by Tacitus ; and that at Laodicea, in the 
reign of Nero, mentioned by Tacitus, which city was overthrown, as 
were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse ; and that in Campania, men- 
tioned by Seneca ; and that at Rome in the reign of Galba, mentioned 
by Suetonius. ' ' — Newton J s 1 ' Dissertations, ' ' page 379. 

Another earthquake which occurred in Judea is thus described by 
Josephus : — 

" For there broke out a prodigious storm in the night, with the 
utmost violence, and very strong winds, with the largest showers of 
rain, with continued lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing 
concussions and bellowings of the earth. These things were a mani- 
fest indication that some destruction was coming upon men, when the 
system of the world was put into this disorder ; and any one would 
guess that these wonders foreshadowed some great calamities that 
were coming." — "Wars of the Jews" Book 4, chap. 4. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM 105 



and garments rolled in blood ' (Isaiah 9 : 5), — what are 
these, in contrast with the terrors of that day when 
the restraining Spirit of God shall be wholly with- 
drawn from the wicked, no longer to hold in check 
the outburst of human passion and Satanic wrath. 
The world will then behold, as never before, the results 
of Satan's rule." — "Great Controversy" p. 37. 

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew the apos- 
tle gives our Saviour's account of a series of events 
to transpire from the days of the apostles on through 
to the end of time. To the student of God's word, 
these scenes are to be waymarks to show where we 
stand in this world's history, and we should give them 
careful consideration. 

The first event predicted is the destruction of Je- 
rusalem and the temple. That His followers might 
be prepared to meet this dire calamity, the Saviour 
gave them warning and instruction: — 

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of 
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet [see Daniel 
9:26,27], stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let 
him understand,) then let them which be in Judea flee 
into the mountains: let him which is on the housetop 
not come down to take anything out of his house: 
neither let him which is in the field return back to 
take his clothes. ,, Matthew 24 : 15-18. 

Luke in his account of this same prophecy says: 
"When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, 
then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then 
let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; 
and let them which are in the midst of it depart out ; 
and let not them that are in the countries enter there- 
into." Luke 21 : 20, 21. 



io6 



THE COMING KING 



This quotation from Luke shows conclusively that 
the "abomination of desolation/' spoken of by Daniel 
and Matthew was the armies of some enemy that would 
surround the city, besiege it, and finally destroy it. 

Dr. Adam Clarke writes: "This ' abomination of 
desolation ' refers to the Roman army ; and this abom- 
ination standing 'in the holy place' is the Roman army 
besieging Jerusalem ; this, our Lord says, is what was 
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, in the ninth and 
eleventh chapters of his prophecy ; and so let every 
one who reads these prophecies understand them ; 
and in reference to this very event they are under- 
stood by the Rabbins. The Roman army is 
called an 'abomination,' for its ensigns and 
images, which were so to the Jews." — Com- 
mentary on Matthew 24.* 

Josephus says, "The Romans brought 
their ensigns into the temple, and placed 
them over against the eastern gate, and 
1 \\ J ^ rr ^ sacrificed to them there." Wars, b. vi. c. 6. 

The Saviour tells His followers what 
to do when the armies of Rome shall invest 
Jerusalem : " Then Jet them which are in 
Judea flee to the mountains." But how can 
the Christians escape after being completely 
surrounded by the enemies of their people? 
At first glance this would seem impossible, but the 
Lord made no mistake. 

In the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, Jerusa- 
lem was surrounded by a powerful army led by Cestius 
Gallus, the president of Syria. But in God's, mercy 




Roman Ensign 



*A11 references from the commentary of Dr. Adam Clarke are 
taken from the original edition published in 1836 



DESTRUCTION OE JERUSALEM 107 



the siege was abandoned for a time, and the investing 
army was withdrawn. 

Upon this point Josephus says, "He [Cestins Gallus] 
might have assaulted and taken the city, and thereby 
put an end to the war; but without any just reason, 
and contrary to the expectation of all, he raised the 
siege and departed." — War, b. ii. c. ip. 

Upon the authority of Busebius, ClarKe, in his com- 
mentary on verses 13 and 16 says that "at this junc- 
ture, after Cestius Gallus had raised the siege, and Ves- 
pasian was approaching with his army, all who believed 
in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other 
places beyond the river Jordan ; and so they all mar- 
velously escaped the general shipwreck of their coun- 
try." "It is very remarkable that not a single Chris- 
tian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though 
there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested 
the city ; and, had he persevered in the siege, he would 
soon have rendered himself master of it ; but, when he 
unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the 
Christians took that opportunity to escape." — See Eu- 
sebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. Hi. c.j. 

The Saviour further says, "Let him which is on 
the housetop not come down to take anything out of 
his house : neither Jet him which is in the field return 
back to take his clothes." Matthew 24 : 17, 18. Like 
Lot in leaving Sodom, their flight must be hurried, or 
it would be too late, and they would be overwhelmed 
in the destruction coming upon the doomed city. 

In the walled cities of the Bast, the roofs of the 
houses were usually flat, and of such a uniform height 
as to make possible a continuous passage to the very 
gates of the city. 



io8 



THE COMING KING 



It was customary to walk and sleep on these house- 
tops. When the time came for God's people to es- 
cape, the need of haste was so great that if any were 
on the housetop or in the field, they must not take 
time to secure anything from their houses, but must 
flee immediately to a place of safety. 

" But pray ye that your flight be not 
in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." 
Matthew 24:20. This instruction was 
given forty years before the Romans over- 
ran Judea. In view of 
the coming 
desolation, the 
followers of 
Christ were to 
pray earnestly 
for two great 
mercies : — 

1. That they 
be not com- 
pelled to flee 
in the winter, 
for the cold of 
that season 
would bring great suffering to the refugees from Judea. 

2. That God would so overrule events that they 
would not be compelled to flee upon the Sabbath day, 
or else be overtaken in the destruction which was to 
follow. 

For forty years this prayer was to go up to God. 
It shows the regard Christ had for the Sabbath. In 
this we find a fitting rebuke for the little respect that 
is paid to this institution, — an institution which had 





" Let him which is on the 
housetop not come down " 



Josephus says that after Cestius 
Gallus had raised the siege of Jeru- 
salem and withdrawn his army, that 
"many of the principal Jewish peo- 
ple forsook the city as men do a 
sinking ship." 



DESTRUCTION OE JERUSALEM 109 



its birth at creation, and which was given to com- 
memorate that event. 

Soon after the flight of the Christians, the army of 
Vespasian, under Titus, entered Judea, and besieged 
Jerusalem, until the city was destroyed and the tern- 
pie burned with fire. 

Terrible distress and calamity came to the Jews as 
the result of this siege. Moses foretold this one thou- 
sand five hundred years before. He said: — 

"The Lord shalJ bring a nation against thee from 




far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle 
flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not under- 
stand/' "And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, 
until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein 
thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall 
besiege thee in all thy gates, throughout all thy land, 
which the Lord thy God hath given thee. And thou 
shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy 



no 



THE COMING KINO 



sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God 
hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, 
wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee." Deuter- 
onomy 28:49, 52, 53. 

The Roman ensign was an eagle, and the Romans 
spoke the Latin language, which the Jews did not 
understand, thus fulfilling the first part of the above 
prophecy to the letter. To the other horrors of war 
was added that of famine. Josephus says that mothers 
would snatch the food from their children in their 
distress, and that many houses were found full of 
women and children who had died of starvation. 
Human flesh was sometimes eaten ; and the same au- 
thor tells of a lady of rank who killed, roasted, and 
ate her own son, thus fulfilling the latter part of the 
prophecy of Moses. — See War, b. v. c. 10 ; b. vi. c. 3. 

Christ had said: "The days shall come upon thee, 
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and 
compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side." 
"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and 
shall be led away captive into all nations." Luke 19: 
43; 21:24. 

The siege of Jerusalem was protracted for months. 
When finally taken, the inhabitants were butchered 
without regard to age or sex. Josephus states that 
eleven hundred thousand perished at this time, and 
that ninety-seven thousand were carried away captive. 
How accurately this fulfills the Saviour's prophecy, 
quoted from Luke 21 124. — See War, b. vi. c. p. 

We also read that "Jerusalem shall be trodden down 
of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be ful- 
filled." Luke 21:24. This will be when the work of 
the gospel is finished. 




they have persecuted Me," He said, "they will also 
persecute you." John 15:20. "Ye shall be hated of 
all men for My name's sake: but he that endureth to 
the end shall be saved." Matthew 10:22. To His op- 
posers He said, " Behold, I send unto you prophets, and 
wise men, and scribes : and some of them ye shall kill 
and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in 
your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city." 
Matthew 23 134. 

Christ declared to His disciples that following the 
destruction of Jerusalem, the elect were to pass through 
a period of terrible persecution. This prediction began 
to meet its fulfillment very early. With the exception 
of John the Revelator, all the apostles died for their 
faith. And even he endured painful tortures and 
banishment, and addressed the persecuted church as 
their "companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom 
and patience of Jesus Christ." Revelation 1 : 9. 

Paul's description of the trials endured by the 

[in] 



112 



THE COMING KING 



church before his day, fitly illustrates what a later 
church was to meet. Thus he writes: — 

"And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourg- 
ings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they 
were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, 
were slain with the sword: they wandered about in 
sheepskins and goatskins ; being destitute, afflicted, tor- 
mented." Hebrews n : 36, 37. 




" They were stoned " 



At the time of the establishment of the Christian 
church, idolatrous Rome had extended its rule over the 
greater portion of the civilized world. The emperor of 
Rome was the supreme pontiff of paganism, and in the 
Roman Pantheon were statues of the recognized gods 
of the empire. It was inevitable that at that critical 
period there should be conflict between paganism and 
Christianity. In such a struggle, the followers of Christ 
could employ only the invisible weapons of spiritual 



GREAT TRIBULATION 



"3 



power. Against them was arrayed the mightiest em- 
pire the world had ever known. 

In those days of pagan supremacy, it was a crime 
against the government for any one to worship gods 
other than those recognized by Rome. The penalty 
for such worship was severe, as indicated by the fol- 
lowing statute : " Whoever introduces new religions, 
the tendency and character of which are unknown, 
whereby the minds of men may be disturbed, shall, 
if belonging to the higher rank, be banished, if to 
the lower, punished with death." 

As most of the Christians were from the lower 
walks of life, and as they advocated a new religion, — 
a religion uncompromizingly opposed to the corrupt and 
licentious practices of paganism, — the death penalty 
was often inflicted on them. 

During the reign of Nero, the Christians suffered 
severe persecutions, and many were hunted down and 
cruelly tormented. The most terrible of the pagan 
persecutions, however, was waged during the reign of 
Diocletian. In 303 A. d. he "issued a decree that 
every church should be burned, that every copy of the 
Scripture should be consigned to the flames, and that 
every Christian, of whatever rank, sex, or age, should 
be tortured, and thus compelled to renounce Chris- 
tianity. No pen can describe the horrors of this per- 
secution, the dismay with which it crushed all Chris- 
tian hearts, or the fortitude with which the disciples 
of Jesus bore the scourgings, fire, and death." — Dr. J. 
C. S. Abbott, "History of Christianity" p. 298. 

"Among the authentic records of pagan persecu- 
tions there are histories which display, perhaps more 
vividly than any other, both the depth of cruelty. .to 

a 



ii4 



THE COMING KING 



which human nature may sink, and the heroism of 
resistance it may attain. . . . The most horrible re- 
corded instances of torture were usually inflicted, either 
by the populace, or in their presence, in the arena. 
We read of Christians bound in chairs of red-hot iron, 




Daytime In the Arena The Night After 



while the stench of their half-consumed flesh rose in 
a suffocating cloud to heaven ; of others who were 
torn to the very bone by shells, or hooks of iron; 
... of two hundred and twenty-seven converts sent 
on one occasion to the mines, each with the sinews 
of one leg severed by a red-hot iron, and with an eye 
scooped from its socket ; of fires so slow that the vic- 
tims writhed for hours in their agonies ; of bodies torn 
limb from limb, or sprinkled with burning lead; of 



GREAT TRIBULATION 



"5 



mingled salt and vinegar poured over the flesh that 
was bleeding from the rack ; of tortures prolonged 
and varied through entire days. For the love of their 
divine Master, for the cause they believed to be true, 
men, and even weak girls, endured these things with- 
out flinching, when one word would have freed them 
from their sufferings." W. E. U. Leckey, "History of 
European Morals" Chapter III, 18 edition, Vol, /, 
pp. 467, 468. 

Terrible as these accounts may seem, the church 
was overtaken by a danger graver than persecution. 
Enlarged by numerous accessions of only partially con- 
verted heathen, its religion espoused by high officials 
and finally even by the emperor himself, the church 
at length rode high on a wave of popular favor. The 
strength of the church of Christ is a spiritual strength, 
dependent on the purity of its teachings and practices. 
Only the purest of motives usually actuate men when 
they choose to suffer in behalf of an unpopular truth. 
But when a church becomes popular and numerically 
powerful, there will flock around its standard many 
who have no true conception of Christian humility. 

In later years, the church that had been persecuted 
rose to a height of importance that led political lead- 
ers to seek the favor of its support. At length, this 
support having been granted, the State was obliged to 
perform the dictates of the Church. Thus the power 
of civil government was placed in the hands of a 
church in which the purity of Christ's teachings had 
been corrupted. Believing that they held the true 
and pure doctrine, and that those who did not believe 
as they did would be eternally lost, those in responsi- 
ble positions in the church came to regard it as their 



n6 



THE COMING KING 



duty to compel all, so far as was possible, to accept 
the tenets of their faith ; and these same religious 
leaders often sought to punish and even to destroy 
those who dared oppose them. 

Jesus had foretold what would come. After telling 
His disciples of the hatred and opposition they would 
encounter in the world, He said: "These things have 
] spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. 
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the 
time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that 
he doeth God service.' ' John 16:1,2. 

The great apostle Paul testified regarding his mo- 
tives in persecuting the Christians prior to his con- 
version : " ] verily thought with myself, that ] ought 
to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of 
Nazareth. Which thing 1 also did in Jerusalem: and 
many of the saints did ] shut up in prison, having re- 
ceived authority from the chief priests [the religious 
leaders] ; and when they were put to death, ] gave my 
voice against them." Acts 26:9, 10. 

As the church lost the power of its early purity, 
schisms began to appear. Various factions arose, dif- 
fering on matters of but minor importance. Early in 
the fourth century there began the famous contro- 
versy over the nature of the Trinity. Two great par- 
ties arose, known respectively as the Arians and the 
Athanasians. Other controversies characterized that 
troublous period. Councils were held to determine 
which party was orthodox, and to pass decisions on 
what was heresy. In the settlement of these disputes, 
both sides at times resorted to violence, even to the 
shedding of blood. 

By the thirteenth century the power of the church 



GREAT TRIBULATION 



117 



had so risen that she was able to force sovereigns to 
use the arms of their nations, in repeated attempts to 
extirpate so-called heresy. Under the threatened pen- 
alty of excommunication, of deposition, and of confis- 
cation of their kingdoms, unhappy sovereigns were 
forced to march their armies against cities and vil- 
lages where lived those who were branded as heretics. 
Often, rulers were compelled to lay waste their own 
territories and to massacre thousands of their loyal 
subjects, because of differences of religious belief and 
practice. In some lands, instruments of torture were 
invented to use in attempting to induce men, women, 
and even children under suspicion of heresy, to declare 
their faith in all the dogmas of the dominant church. 

During the centuries of "great tribuJation " it is 
estimated that many millions of people were put to 
death for no other reason than that they held tena- 
ciously to doctrines that they firmly believed to 
be right. Fittingly has this period been termed the 
"Dark Ages." Religious intolerance was the spirit 
of the times. When one religious party was in the 
ascendancy, it oppressed all others, and when one of 
the oppressed parties, by some turn of affairs, gained 
the supremacy, too often it in turn persecuted all who 
disagreed with it. 

Inasmuch as the elect — the true followers of Him 
who bade the impetuous Peter to sheathe his sword — 
cannot make use of carnal weapons to propagate His 
doctrines, it follows that they must have been among 
those who were hunted and oppressed. Had these 
Conditions continued indefinitely, the true believers 
would in time have all perished. " Except those days 
should be shortened," said our Saviour, "there should 



n8 



The coming king 



no flesh be saved." But He gave assurance that " for 
the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 
24:22. 

About the middle of the eighteenth century, there 
came about a general change of sentiment, and an era 
of religious toleration began. Thus it is evident that 
this portion of the Saviour's prediction has been accu- 
rately fulfilled. 

Among those whom the apostle John in prophetic 
vision saw with the redeemed, were those "that 
were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the 
word of God." Revelation 20:4. Though reviled and 
despised during their lifetime on earth, these noble 
martyrs in the cause of Jesus will have an eternal 
reward. 



DARKENING OF THE SUN 

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and 
the moon shall not give her light/' Matthew 24 : 29. 

This prophecy met a remarkable fulfillment in the 
mysterious dark day of May 19, 1780. The unprece- 
dented darkness of that day extended through all New 
England, and the Atlantic Coast, from the South to 
unknown regions of the North. It brought great alarm 
and distress to many people, who thought that the day 
of judgment had come. The fear produced by this 
phenomenon was shared alike by man and beast. 

No better account of this day can be given than 
found in the statements of eye witnesses as recorded 
in many of the libraries of the Bast. 

Unprecedented for Its Great Darkness 

"The 19th day of May, 1780, was unprecedented in New England 
for its great darkness. . . . The darkness extended over several thou- 
sand square miles, though differing much in intensity in different 
places. Nowhere, perhaps, was it greater than in this vicinity. The 
day was appropriately called and is still known, as THE- DARK 
DAY." — From "History of the Town of Hampton, New Hamp- 
shire,'''' by Joseph Dorr, Salem, Mass. Printed by the Salem Press 
and Printing Co., /8pj. Vol. I, page 217. {Boston Pub. Library.) 

[119] 



120 



THE COMING KING 



" Black Friday" 

1 1 There appears to have been an absence of clouds for the most 
part, though light rain occurred. Though known as the ' Black Fri- 
day of New England,' the area covered by darkness also extended 
west of that section." — ''Encyclopedia Americana" The Americana 
Company, New York, ipoj. Art. "Dark Day." 

A Strange Darkness 

"This strange darkness increased until by noon the people had 




In the Morning 



to light candles to eat their dinners by ! Lights were seen in every 
window, and out of doors, people carried torches to light their steps. 
Everything took a different color from what it had by sunlight, and 
consequently the strange reflections of the torchlights were in keep- 
ing with the marvelous and changed appearance of everything. 

1 ' Hosts of people believed the end of the world had begun to 
come ; men dropped to their knees to pray in the field ; many ran 
to their neighbors to confess wrongs and ask forgiveness ; multi- 
tudes rushed into the meeting-houses in towns where they had 
such, where pious and aged ministers, pleading repentance, inter- 
ceded with God in their behalf ; and everywhere throughout this 
day of wonder and alarm, the once careless thought of their sins 
and their Maker ! 

"At this time the legislature of Connecticut was in session, and 
when the growing darkness became so deep that at midday they 
could not see each other, most of them were so alarmed as to be 



DARKENING OE THE SUN 



121 



unfit for service. At this juncture, Mr. Davenport arose and said : — 
' ' 1 Mr. Speaker, it is either the day of Judgment or it is not. 

If it is not, there is no need of adjourning. If it is, I desire to be 

found doing my duty. I move that candles be brought and that we 

proceed to business.' 

"The darkness somewhat increased all day, and before time of 

sunset, was so intense that no object whatever could be distinguished. 

Anxiously and tremblingly, people waited for the full moon to rise at 

nine o'clock, and even little children with strained eyes, sat silently 




In the Afternoon 



watching for its beautiful beams to appear. But they were disap- 
pointed ; the darkness being unaffected by the moon. The most feel- 
ing prayers ever prayed in Antrim were at the family altars that 
night. Children never had more tender blessing than these mothers 
gave them that night. They slept soundly for the most part, but the 
parents chiefly sat up all night to wait and see if the glorious sun 
would rise again. Never dawned a lovelier morning than that 20th 
of May ! Never were hearts more thankful on the earth ! Even 
thoughtless people praised God ! 

' 1 So much were the whole population affected by this event, that, 
at the succeeding March meeting, the town voted, March 9, 1781, to 
keep the next 19th of May as a day of fasting and prayer." — "His- 
tory of the Town of Antrim, New Hampshire." By Rev. W. R. 
Cochrane. Published by the Town. Manchester, N. H. Mirrow 
Steam Printing Press. 1880. Pages 58,59. (N. H. Library.) 



122 THE COMING KING 

Verbatim Account From a Diary 

11 May 19th, 1780 Was a Thunder shower in the morning and was 
followed by an uncommon darkness such as is not remembered it was 
so dark That one could not known a man but at a small distance and 
Were obliged to keep a light in the chimney to see to go about and 
the night was Extraordinary dark until one oClock that a person 
could not see their hand whenn held up nor even a white sheet of 
paper the day and night was cloudy the clouds in the day did not 
seem thick and was of a lightening up couler our almanack makers 
have given no account of the matter the cause unknown The works of 
the Lord are great and marvellous past finding out untill he Gra- 
ciously pleases to Reveal them." — "The Diary of Matthew Patten of 
Bedford" N. H. From 1754 to 7/88. Published by the Town. Con- 
cord, N. H. The Rumford Printing Company, ipoj. Page 414. 
(N. H. State Library.) 

The Effect on the Animal Kingdom 

The effect on both domestic and wild animals was 
the same as if night had come. One writer of that 
time gives the following description of this feature : — 

" Fowls retired to their roosts, mounted them, tucked their heads 
under their wings, going to sleep as quietly and assuredly as if it had 
been sunset rather than noon. As the appearance of twilight prema- 
turely came on, cattle lowed and gathered at the pasture bars, waiting 
to be let out that they might return to their barns and make ready for 
another night's repose, apparently forgetful of the short lapse of time 
since they had gone out to their daily feeding. Sheep huddled by the 
fences, or in the open fields in circles. Frogs peeped as they were 
accustomed to do as soon as the sun went down. The day birds sang 
their evening songs, as their habit was, woodchucks whistled and 
bats came out of their hiding places and flew about. Near fences and 
buildings many birds were found dead, probably having flown against 
these objects in the darkness and been killed by the contact." 

Time and Extent of Darkness 

" The time of the commencement of this extraordinary darkness 
was between the hours of ten and eleven in the forenoon of Friday, 
. . . and it continued until the middle of the following night, but 
with different appearances at different places. As to the manner of 
its approach, it seemed to appear first of all in the south-west. The 



DARKENING OE THE SUN 



123 



wind came from that quarter, and the darkness appeared to come on 
with the clouds that came in that direction. . . . 

" The extent of the darkness was also very remarkable. It was 
observed at the most easterly parts of New England ; westward to the 
furthest part of Connecticut, and at Albany ; to the southward, it was 
observed all along the seacoasts ; and to the north as far as the Ameri- 
can settlements extended. It probably far exceeded these boundaries, 
but the exact limits were never positively known." — "Our First 
Century (1776-1876) Great and Memorable Events" pp. 89, go. (Bos- 
ton Pub. Library..) 

Supposed the Judgment Day Had Come 

It was the impression with many of the people 
that the day of judgment had come. Special services 
were held in churches, sins were confessed and wrongs 
righted, and an effort made to prepare, so far as pos- 
sible, for the great event which was felt to be impend- 
ing. The poet Whittier thus speaks of this memora- 
ble day : — 

" 'Twas on a May-day of the fair old year 
Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell 
Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring, 
Over the fresh earth, and the heaven of noon, 
A horror of great darkness." 

" Men prayed and women wept ; all ears grew sharp 
To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter 
The black sky, that the dreadful face of Christ 
Might look from the rent clouds, not as He looked 
A loving guest at Bethany, but stern 
As Justice and inexorable Law. " 

Men Filled with Awe and Alarm 

" Dark Day : refers especially to May 19, 1780, which was very 
dark in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, causing great 
alarm." — 1 'The Universal Cyclopedia" New York, D. Appleton & 
Co., 1900 ; Art., Dark Day. 

" ' The dark day of New England,' so familiar to old and young, 
came May 19, 1780. . . . Near eleven o'clock, it began to grow dark, 
as if night were coming. Men ceased their work ; the lowing cattle 



124 



THE COMING KING 



came to the barns, the bleating sheep huddled by the fences, the wild 
birds screamed and flew to their nests, the fowls went to their 
roosts. . . . 

"Men, ordinarily cool, were filled with awe and alarm. Excita- 
ble people believed the end of the world had come ; some ran about 
saying the day of judgment was at hand ; the wicked hurried to their 
neighbors to confess wrongs and ask forgiveness ; the superstitious 
dropped on their knees to pray in the fields, or rushed into meeting- 
houses to call on God to preserve them. . . . 

' ' At night it was so inky dark that a person could not see his 
hand when held up, nor even a white sheet of paper." — From "His- 
tory of Weare," New Hampshire, 1735-1888. By Wm. Little, 
Lowell, Mass. Printed by S. W. Huse & Co., 1888, page 276. (Bos- 
ion Pub. Library.) 

"Men Prayed and Women Wept" 

"Friday, May 19, 1780, will go down in history as 'the dark 
day.' . . . Fear, anxiety, and awe gradually filled the minds of the 
people. Women stood at the door looking out upon the dark land- 
scape ; men returned from their labor in the fields ; the carpenter left 
his tools, the blacksmith his forge, the tradesman his counter. Schools 
were dismissed, and tremblingly the children fled homeward. Trav- 
elers put up at the nearest farmhouse. ' What is coming ? ' queried 
every lip and heart. It seemed as if a hurricane was about to dash 
across the land, or as if it was the day of the consummation of all 
things. . . . 

' ' Dr. Nathanel Whittaker, pastor of the Tabernacle church in 
Salem, held religous services in the meeting-house, and preached a 
sermon in which he maintained that the darkness was supernatural. 
Congregations came together in many other places. The texts for the 
extemporaneous sermons were invariably those that seemed to indi- 
cate that the darkness was consonant with Scriptural prophecy. 

" Such texts as these were used : Isa. 13 : 10 ; Eze. 32 : 7, 8 ; Joel 
11 : 31; Matt. 24 : 29, 30 ; Rev. 6:12. 

1 ' Devout fathers gathered their families around them in their 
homes and conducted religious services ; and for a few hours Chris- 
tians were stirred to activity, and non-professors earnestly sought for 
salvation, expecting 1 To hear the thunder of the wrath of God break 
from the hollow trumpet of the cloud. ' ' ' — From ' 1 The Essex Anti- 
quarian,'''' Salem, Mass., April, 1899. Vol. Ill, No. 4, pp. jj, 45. 
(Boston Pub. Library.) 



DARKENING OF THE SUN 



125 



The Cause Unknown 

Efforts have been made to explain the cause of this 
extraordinary dark day, but none of them have been 
able to stand the test of scientific investigation. We 
can only conclude that, like the great darkness which 
enshrouded Egypt, it was "an act of God" in fulfill- 
ment of our Saviour's prophecy. The explanation is 
simple when we treat it from that standpoint. Our 
Lord said that "the sun shall be darkened and the 
moon shall not give her light." This was to be an 
evidence that the end is near. Jesus foretold it, and 
on May 19, 1780, the prophecy was fulfilled. 

"On the 19th of May, 1780, an uncommon darkness took place 
all over New England, and extended to Canada. It continued about 
fourteen hours, or from ten o'clock in the morning till midnight. 
The darkness was so great, that people were unable to read com- 
mon print, or tell the time of the day by their watches, or to dine, or 
transact their ordinary business without the light of candles. They 
became dull and gloomy, and some were excessively frightened. 
The fowls retired to their roosts. Objects could not be distin- 
guished but at a very little distance, and everything bore the ap- 
pearance of gloom and night. 

1 ' The causes of these phenomena are unknown. They certainly 
were not the result of eclipses." — "The Guide to Knowledge, or 
Repertory of Fads,'''' Edited by Robert Sears, New York, 1845. 
Page 428. {Astor Library.) 

" The Primary Cause 19 

1 1 The primary cause must be imputed to Him that walketh 
through the circuit of heaven, who stretcheth out the heaven like a 
curtain, who maketh the clouds His chariots, who walketh upon the 
wings of the wind. It was He at whose voice the stormy winds are 
obedient — that commandeth these exhalations to be collected and 
condensed together, that with them He might darken both the day 
and the night — which darkness was, perhaps not only a token of His 
indignation against the crying iniquities and abominations of the peo- 
ple, but an omen of some future destruction that may overtake this 
land like a deluge, unless a speedy repentance and reformation should 



126 



THE COMING KING 



immediately take place." — Dr. Samuel Stearns in an article addressed 
"To the Public,' 1 '' in the Worcester Spy of June 29, 1/80. 

Not Caused by an Eclipse 

This dark day was not caused by an eclipse, as 
may be seen by the accompanying dia- 
grams. The design at the left shows 
- the position which the sun, moon, and 
9SS^*~'^S3R earth must maintain for an eclipse of the 
. sun. The moon must be between the 
earth and the sun. But upon this day 
3j§ -g the position was almost reversed, the 

; earth being nearly between the sun and 
j§: \ the moon. But if an 

L ^ [Q0IF eclipse at that time had 
• JB been possible, it would /. 

have remained for a short Jjlll? "58 
■ f period only, while this ffiSK^viSi 

darkness continued "jjj 
Sr§ through half a day and 
5l half a night. • 

J'M^f^H?? " An eclipse of the sun can 

occur only at new moon. The 

reason is obvious. To produce 
it the sun, the moon, and the earth must be in a 
straight line, the moon being in the center. "~ 
American Encyclopedic Dictionary , Art. 
"Eclipse:' 

' ' That this darkness was not caused by an 
eclipse, is manifest by the various positions of the 
planetary bodies at that time, for the moon was 

more than one hundred and fifty degrees from the fios 'f^^^^^^tk 
sun all that day, and, according to the accurate Dd J- mipse-impassible 
calculations made by the most celebrated astrono- 
mers, there could not, in the order of nature, be any transit of the 
planet Venus or Mercury upon the disc of the sun that year ; nor 
could it be a blazing star — much less a mountain — that darkened 




DARKENING OF THE SUN 



127 



the atmosphere, for this would still leave unexplained the deep dark- 
ness of the following night. 

' ' Nor would such excessive nocturnal darkness follow an eclipse 
of the sun ; and as to the moon, she was at that time more than forty 
hours' motion past her opposition.";— Article by R. M. Devens, 
" Our First Century" 1776-1876. " Great and Memorable Events" 
pp. 89-96. (Boston Pub. Library.) 

Not Caused by Forest Fires 

' ' That the smoke of burning forests cannot be the cause may be 
rendered very certain. . . . Had the woods from the 40th degree of 
latitude in America to the 50th been all consumed in a day, the 
smoke would not have been sufficient to cloud the sun over the ter- 
ritory covered by the darkness on the 19th of May (1780). Any 
person can judge of this who has seen large tracts of forest on fire. 
That thirty or forty miles of burning forest, should cover five hun- 
dred miles with impenetrable darkness, is too absurd to deserve a 
serious refutation." — " A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilen- 
tial Diseases ; With the Principal Phenomena of the Physical World, 
Which Precede and Accompany Them.'''' In two Volumes. By Noah 
Webster. Hartford. Printed by Hudson and Goodwin, 1799. Pages 
91-93, Vol. II. (Lenox Library, New York.) 

Darkness of the Following Night 

"The moon shall not give her light/' Although 
the moon was in the full, the first half of the following 
night was remarkable for the density of its darkness. 

"The darkness of the following night was so intense that many 
who were but a little way from home, on well-known roads, could 
not, without extreme difficulty, retrace the way to their own dwell- 
ings." — "Sketches of the History of New Hampshire," by John W. 
Whiton, 1834, p. 144. (N. H. Library.) 

"The darkness of the following evening was probably as deep 
and dense as ever had been observed since the Almighty first gave 
birth to light ; it wanted only palpability to render it as extraordinary 
as that which overspread the land of Egypt in the days of Moses. If 
every luminous body in the Universe had been shrouded in impene- 
trable shades, or struck out of existence, it was thought the dark- 
ness could not have been more complete. A sheet of white paper, 
held within a few inches of the eyes, was equally invisible with the 
the blackest velvet." — Article by R. M. Devens, "Our First Cen- 



128 



THE COMING KING 



tury, ' ' 1776-1876. ' ' Great and Memorable Events, ' ' pp. 89-96. ( Bos- 
ton Pub. Library.) 

The Appearance of the Moon 

John the Revelator was given a view, in vision, of 
some of the scenes foretold by onr Savionr as signs 

of His soon com- 
ing. He says, 
"The sun be- 
came b J a c k as 
sackcloth of hair, 
and the moon be- 
came as blood." 
Revelation 6:12. 
Upon this fea- 
ture Milo Bost- 
wick writes : — 

"My father and 
mother, who were 
pious, thought the 
day of judgment was 
near. They sat up 
all night, during the 
latter part of which 
they said the dark- 
ness disappeared, 
and then the sky seemed as usual ; but the moon, which was at the 
full, had the appearance of blood." 

Is the Event Important? 

"What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of 
the end of the world ? " Matthew 24 : 3. This was the 
question asked by the disciples on the Mount of Olives. 
It was this question which Jesus answered in succeed- 
ing verses. His answer considered: — 

First, the destruction of Jerusalem with its accom- 
panying signs and horrors. 




"And the moon became as blood." 



DARKENING OF THE SUN 



129 



Second, a long period of " great tribulation " to, and 
persecution of, the church of Christ, commonly called 
the Dark Ages, in which the " mystery of godliness " 
was to be largely supplanted by the "mystery of ini- 
quity," which Paul said was already working in his 
day. 

Third, a group of signs of the end which were to 
immediately follow the period of persecution of the 
church of Christ, and which were to usher in the 
coming of the Lord of glory. Jesus said: — 

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days 
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give 
her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the 
powers of the heavens shall be shaken : and then shall 
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven." Mat- 
thew 24: 29, 30. 

And to His true followers He says, "When these 
things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift 
up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." 
Luke 21 : 28. 

The "great tribulation," brought about by the per- 
secution of the church of Christ, practically ceased in 
the middle of the eighteenth century. The dark day, 
the first of the signs given by our Lord to foretell 
His soon coming, occurred in 1780, so it comes in the 
proper order of events as foretold. 

Are These Things Important? 

In infinite mercy our Saviour has seen fit to draw 
aside the curtain which hides the future. The disci- 
ples asked "When shall these things be," and what 
"signs" shall precede them. In His answer He de- 
scribes the road His followers must travel and sets 
9 



130 



THE COMING KING 



signboards at the parting of the ways. He plants 
milestones by the side of the road so that we may 
know how near we are to our journey's end. 

Are these things real ? Are they important to us ? 
Ancient Israel received warnings by the hands of the 
prophets of God, but they rejected the warnings and 
persecuted the prophets. Hence God could not work 
for them, could not protect and save them. They 
were afflicted by nations around them, they were taken 
captive to Babylon, and at last Jerusalem was utterly 
destroyed, and they were obliterated as a nation. 

Now God calls upon the true Israel to fall into 
line for the closing scenes of earth. He has clearly 
marked out the way, denned the time when "it is 
near," and warned us regarding the dangers to be met. 
He says, "Take heed that no man deceive you/* 

There is no truth of the Bible which Satan hates 
with such vindictiveness as he does that pertaining to 
the second coming of Christ. Hence he employs every 
ingenuity of men and evil angels to destroy the faith 
of mankind in the reality and nearness of this event. 
At the coming of Christ the reign of Satan ends. 
Jesus will come when the number of His people who 
are watching and waiting for Him is made up. It is 
Satan's master work of the ages to so distract and de- 
ceive the world that God's plan may be delayed as 
long as possible. But the delay cannot long continue. 
The forces of the world are lining up. Reader, on 
which side will you stand? 




And the stars shall fall from heaven." Matthew 24 : 29. 



The next sign foretold by our Saviour was that of 
the falling stars. This was literally fulfilled in the 
great meteoric shower which occurred November 13, 
1833. This wonderful exhibition of celestial fireworks 
began between two and four o'clock in the morning, 
and continued until daylight. It extended over North 
America, and as far south as Mexico and the island of 
Jamaica. No better description can be given of this 
phenomenon than found in the publications of the time 
in which it occurred : — 

"A Distant Shower of Fire " 

" About half -past 4 o'clock on the morning of Wednesday the 
13th Nov. inst., brilliant objects were seen to pass by the window, at 
first taken to be sparks from the chimney or some building perhaps 
on fire, but on further examination, they were found to be what are 
commonly called shooting- stars. 

" On going into the street, where the prospect was bounded only 
with horizon, the heavens presented one of the most extraordinary, 

[131] 



132 



THE COMING KING 



sublime, and beautiful prospects ever beheld by man. Imagination 
can picture nothing to exceed it. These luminous substances, num- 
berless as the stars themselves, were seen flying in every possible di- 
rection, through a clear, unclouded sky, leaving long luminous trains 
behind. 

" In any direction, the scene could not be compared more aptly 
to anything than a distant shower of fire, whose particles were 
falling sparsely to the earth. Frequently one larger and more lumi- 
nous than the rest would shoot across the heavens, producing a flash 
like vivid lightning. Towards the approach of daylight the sky 
began to be obscured with clouds, and these substances appeared less 
frequent, but did not disappear till long after the light of the morning 
had arisen, and were seen as long as stars were visible." — New 
Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette. Semi-weekly. Vol. /, No. 104. 
Concord, Saturday, November 16, 1833. (State Library.) 

Seen in United States, Mexico, and West Indies 

" But the year 1S33 is memorable for the most magnificent display 
[of falling meteors] on record. This was on the same night of No- 
vember [13] also, and was visible over all the United States, and over 
a part of Mexico, and the West India Islands. Together with the 
smaller shooting stars, which fell like snowflakes and produced phos- 
phorescent lines along their course, there were intermingled large 
fireballs, which darted forth at intervals, describing in a few seconds 
an arc of 30 or 40 degrees. 

"These left behind luminous trains, which remained in view sev- 
eral minutes, and sometimes half an hour or more. One of them seen 
in North Carolina appeared of larger size and greater brilliancy than 
the moon. Some of the luminous bodies were of irregular form, and 
remained stationary for a considerable time, emitting streams of light. 

1 1 At Niagara the exhibition was especially brilliant, and probably 
no spectacle so terribly grand and sublime was ever before beheld by 
man as that of the firmament descending in fiery torrents over the 
dark and roaring cataract." — 11 The American Cyclopedia" New 
York. D. Appleton and Company, 1881, Article, "Meteor." 

Newspaper Reports 

"All our exchange papers, from every direction, contain accounts 
of the splendid exhibition in the atmosphere witnessed on Wednes- 
day morning last." — Dover Gazette and Strafford Advertiser, Vol. 
VIII, No. 51. Dover, N. H. Tuesday morning, Nov. 19, 1833. 
(State Library.) 



the falling stars 



i33 



"The Meteoric Phenomenon witnessed in this country on the 
13th instant, was also seen at Halifax the same morning. Many per- 
sons rose from their beds supposing there was a fire near their dwell- 
ings." — Portland Evening Advertise? \ Nov. 27 1 1833. {Portland 
Pub. Library.) 

Seen in Mississippi and at Lake Huron 

" Having been engaged in running the standard lines for the gen- 
eral survey of the Chick- 
asaw Nation in Missis- 
sippi, I was at the house 
of Major Allen, on the 
night of the falling stars. 
Major Allen is the gov- 
ernment agent, and re- 
sides nearly in the center 
of the Nation . About an 
hour before daylight, I 
was called up to see the 
falling meteors. It was 
the most sublime and 
brilliant sight I had ever 
witnessed. The largest 
of the falling bodies, ap- 
peared about the size of 
Jupiter or Venus, when 
brightest. Some per- 
sons present, affirmed 
that they heard a his- 
sing noise on the fall of 
some of the largest. The sky presented the appearance of a shower 
of stars, which many thought were real stars, and an omen of dreadful 
events." — Extract from a letter to Prof. Denison Olmstead, of Vale 
College, from Prof . Thomson, "formerly of the University of Nash- 
ville, Term. 1 '' Printed in a pamphlet and bound in a volume with 
the title " Bowditch Pamphlets." {Boston Pub. Library.) 

MicmiyiM ackinac , Jan. 6, 1834. 

To Prof. Oi^mstead: — 

Sir: — The Meteoric display described in your letter of the 13th 
November, was observed, at the same time, on this island, and the 
adjacent shores of Lake Huron. The appearances coincided, gener- 
ally, with these you mention. The sentinels at post in the garrison, 




Falling Stars as Seen at Niagara 



134 



THK COMING KING 



which is situated on a cliff, saw the lake illuminated, as it were, with 
falling stars. 

I am Sir, very respectfully your obedient servant, 

Henry R. Schoolcraft. 

Appearance at Sea 

" We have been informed by Capt. Jackson, who was at sea that 

night, at the distance of 
nine miles from land, 
that the heavens were 
illuminated with the 
meteors, during nearly 
the whole night, as far 
as the eye could reach, 
in every direction, pre- 
senting a spectacle of 
uncommon magnifi- 
cence and sublimity, at- 
tended with frequent ex- 
plosions resembling the 
discharge of small arms. 
We learn also that a me- 
teor of extraordinary 
size was observed at sea 
to course the heavens 
for a great length of 
time, and then exploded 
with the noise of a can- 
{Portland Pub. Library.) 

Stars Fall as " Untimely Figs " 

The course of this meteoric shower was foretold in 
prephecy: "The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, 
even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely [unripe] figs, 
when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Revelation 6:13. 

Professor Olmstead, of Yale College, says that "the meteors . . . 
appeared to emanate from a point in the constellation Leo, near a star 
called Gamnea I^eonis, in the bend of the sickle." 

Of the literal fulfillment of the foregoing text, Henry Dana Ward 
writes : — " Here is the exactness of the prophet. . . . They fell not 
as ripe fruit falls ; far from it ; but they flew, they were cast, like the 




Falling Stars as Seen on a Mississippi Plantation 

non." — Charleston Courier. 



THE FALLING STARS 



135 



unripe fig, which at first refuses to leave the branch, and when, under 
a violent pressure, it does break its hold, flies swiftly, straight off, de- 
scending ; and in the multitude falling, some cross the track of others, 
as they are thrown with more or less force, but each one falls on its 
own side of the tree." 

"Compared with the splendors of this celestial exhibition, the 
most brilliant rockets and fireworks of art, bore less relation than the 
twinkling of the most tiny star, to the broad glare of the sun. The 
whole heavens seemed in motion, and little need have been borrowed 
from a morbid sensibility, to, imagine that the opening of the sixth 
seal was indeed at hand, when the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, 
even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a 
mighty wind. Never before has it fallen to our lot to observe a phe- 
nomenon so magnificent and sublime." — New York Commercial Ad- 
vertiser. Quoted in the Eastern Argus of Nov. 18, 1833. 

Signs of the End 

"Scientific study of the orbits of shooting stars began after the 
occurrence of the most brilliant meteoric shower on record, — that of 
Nov. 13, 1833. This spectacle, which excited the greatest interest 
among all beholders, and was looked upon with consternation by the 
ignorant, many of whom thought that the end of the world had come, 
was witnessed generally throughout North America, which happened 
to be the part of the earth facing the meteoric storm. Hundreds of 
thousands of shooting stars fell in the course of two or three hours. 
Some observers compared their number to the flakes of a snow storm, 
or to the rain drops in a shower." — "The Encyclopedia Americana.'''' 
The American Company \ New York, 1903. Article, "Meteors or 
Shooting Stars." 

" We pronounce the Raining Fire which we saw on Wednesday 
morning last an awful type — a sure forerunner — a merciful sign of 
that great and dreadful day which the inhabitants of the earth will 
witness when the sixth seal shall be opened. 

"That time is just at hand described not only in the New Testa- 
ment but in the Old ; and a more correct picture of a fig-tree casting 
its leaves when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to be- 
hold. 

' ' Many things now occurring upon the earth tend to convince us 
that we are in the "latter days." This exhibition we deem to be a 
type of an awful day fast hurrying upon us. This is our sincere opin- 
ion; and what we think, we are not ashamed to tell." — The Old 
Countryman, New York, printed in the New York Star and quoted 



136 



THE COMING KING 



in the Portland Evening Advertiser, Nov. 26, 1833. {Portland Pub. 
Library.) 

The Day of Judgment 

" During the three hours of its continuance, the day of judgment 
was believed to be only waiting for sunrise, and long after the shower 
had ceased, the morbid and superstitious were still impressed with the 
idea that the final day was at least only a week ahead. 

" Meetings for prayer were held in many places, and many other 
ccenes of religious devotion, or terror, or abandonment of worldly 
affairs, transpired under the influence of fear occasioned by so sudden 
and awful a display." — "Great Events of the Greatest Century," 
p. 229. 

Testimony of Eye= Witnesses 

The great fall of meteoric stars upon Nov. 13, 1833, was so remark- 
able as to attract the attention of many thousands of people of all 
classes, from the scientist to the humblest tiller of the soil. Some per- 
sons of world-wide fame have described the scene and the impression 
it made upon them. Among them was the famous colored orator, 
Frederick A. Douglas. In his book, "My Bondage and Freedom," 
he describes the falling of the stars in the following manner : "I 
witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awe struck. The air 
seemed filled with bright descending messengers from the sky. It 
was about daybreak when I saw this sublime scene. It was not with- 
out the suggestion at that moment that it might be the harbinger of 
the coming of the Son of man ; and in my state of mind I was prepared 
to hail Him as my friend and deliverer. I had read that the stars 
shall fall from heaven, and they were now falling. I was suffering 
much in my mind, and I was beginning to look away to heaven for 
the rest denied me on earth." 

Lucy Reese lived at Point Lookout, Ga., Nov. 13, 1833. She 
says: "I was fourteen years of age at the time the stars fell. It 
seemed to me like a shower of rain. The people were greatly fright- 
ened, and there was much reading of the Bible because they thought 
the judgment had come." 

To the student of prophecy there can be no ques- 
tion as to this event forming another link in the chain 
of prophecy already fulfilled. It is another milestone 
to tell us where we are in the rapidly passing events 
of this world's history. 




The people living before trie flood were a long- 
lived, clear-headed race; but they had departed from 
God, and their ability to work iniquity was very great. 

So far did they go in sin, that " God saw that the 
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that 
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was 
only evil continually. . . . The earth also was corrupt 
before God, and the earth was filled with violence." 
Genesis 6:5, 11. 

Finally the Lord declared, "My Spirit shall not 
always strive with man," and the fiat went forth, "1 
will destroy man whom ] have created from the face 
of the earth/' Genesis 6:3,7. 

Still He gave them opportunity to repent. For one 
hundred and twenty years Noah gave God's warning 
to the world. Without doubt many at first believed 
the teachings of Noah ; but as the years rolled on, 
and no change came, they joined those who were scof- 
fing at his big boat on dry land. They could see no 
change in the earth to indicate that its destruction was 
impending, and so put the matter out of their minds. 

But when the world had been warned, and the ark 
was finished, — when the great procession of beasts and 
birds, led by the angels of God, had taken their proper 
places in the ark,— the angel shut the door, and mercy 
departed from the unbelieving, wicked people. 

[i37] 



138 



THE COMING KING 



Noah and his family were all that were safe, — 
shut in by the power of God. The rain fell, — some- 
thing which had never occurred on the earth before. 
The lightnings flashed, and the thunders rolled. The 
fountains of the great deep were broken up. All out- 
side perished ; but the ark rode the stormy billows in 
safety, protected by powerful angels of God. 

In our text the Saviour declares that the scenes 
of wickedness and the condition of the earth will be 
the same just prior to the second coming of Christ as 
they were before the flood. 

" For as in the days that were before the flood 
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in 
marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 
and knew not until the flood came, and took them all 
away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man 
be." Matthew 24 : 38, 39. 

As the hopes, cares, and busy activities of life filled 
all the heart and claimed all the attention of the w T orld 
before the flood, so will it be when the end is near. 
As wickedness, strife, and violence filled the earth then, 
so also will they increase as we near the time for the 
coming of the Lord. 

We have only to look abroad in the land to see 
these specifications fulfilling everywhere. The eager 
chase for wealth, and the mad hurry and rush of 
worldly and business enterprises, were never before 
seen as now, while the increase of wickedness and 
crime on all hands is appalling. 

God sent Noah to warn the world of its impend- 
ing doom. He is now sending His servants through- 
out all the world with warnings of the last great 
calamity in store for it. 



THE DAYS OF NOAH 



139 



But as in the days of Noah they " knew not ' that 
the flood was coming, so those who refuse the light 
at the present time will know not of the great de- 
struction by fire which is near. 

Speaking of this time, Peter says: "Knowing this 
first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, 
walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the 
promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell 
asleep, all things continue as they were from the begin- 
ning of the creation." 2 Peter 3 : 3, 4. 

The people before the flood walked in their own 
way and scoffed at Noah. In the last days they will 
be pursuing the same course, and scoffing at the mes- 
sage of the final overthrow. tc Where is there any- 
thing in nature to show that these terrible things are 
coming?" " Day and night, summer and winter, seed- 
time and harvest, come and go just as they always 
have since creation." 

No ; they have not. " For this they willingly are 
ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens 
were of old, and the earth standing out of the water 
and in the water: whereby the world that then was, 
being overflowed with water, perished : but the heavens 
and the earth, which are now, by the same word are 
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of 
judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3 : 5-7. 

A few more days, and the cup of iniquity of the 
world will be filled to the brim, and the angel of 
mercy will again leave the earth. Finally the fires of 
the great day of God will break forth, and destroy 
the earth by fire, as it was destroyed by water nearly 
four thousand years ago. 



Iniquity Shall Abound 

"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." 
Matthew 24: 12. 

Onk of the signs given by our Saviour of the ap- 
proaching end of the gospel age is that "iniquity shall 
abound.' * To the same intent the apostle Paul wrote to 
his son in the gospel, " Evil men and seducers shall wax 
worse and worse." 2 Timothy 3:13. 

With infidelity and worldliness honeycombing the 
churches, with drunkenness, vice, and crime rapidly in- 
creasing upon every side, it should require only a glance 
at the facts to convince any one that these Scriptures 
are having their fulfillment in our own day, and that 
we are therefore living in the very time to which 
Christ and the apostles referred. These things have 
long been recognized by even the most liberal element 
in the church. 

In a sermon preached by Henry Ward Beecher as long ago as 
Nov. 15, 1868, occurs this statement: "The want of indignation at 
flagrant wickedness is one of the alarming symptoms of our times. 
"We are living in the midst of an amount of corruption second only to 
that of Sodom and Gomorrah." 

Three years later, namely, in 1871, Rev. David McAllister, repre- 
senting a more conservative element in the church, said in a sermon 
in Philadelphia : "The dishonesty, the profanity, the drunkenness, 
the licentiousness, of a large proportion of our public men are simply 
notorious." 
[140] 



INIQUITY SHALL ABOUND 



141 



That conditions have not improved since the fore- 
going statements were publicly made by two promi- 
nent ministers nearly a third of a century ago, is 
shown by more recent developments. No period of 
our history has anywhere nearly approached the first 
decade of the present century in revelations of munici- 
pal, state, and national corruption and graft. 

And let no one think that the deplorable con- 
ditions alluded to have been recognized by only an 
individual minister here and there. The religious 
press has united with the pulpit from time to time 
in an endeavor to arouse the people to a sense of the 
danger of being overwhelmed by the rapidly rising 
tide of corruption. 

In March, 1872, the Watchman and Reflector said: "Bank rob- 
beries, ring despotisms, oiiicial corruptions, domestic tragedies, gar- 
rotings, burglaries, suicides, — these come in upon us like tidal waves, 
so constant and regular in their visitation that we are no longer 
startled by them." 

What would this editor have said had he been writ- 
ing in 1896, in which year there were in the United 
States alone 10,662 murders, an average of more than 
twenty-nine murders each day in the year. 

Nov. 4, 1874, the Christian Union, a paper that certainly can not 
be accused of pessimistic tendencies, said: "It is not to be denied that 
corruption, in both private and public life, is lamentably frequent; 
that crime of every grade abounds ; and that men in all the relations 
of life exhibit a degree of selfishness which shows that the millen- 
nium is yet afar off. ' ' 

More recent developments in Philadelphia, Harris- 
burg, New York, Albany, Chicago, San Francisco, and 
other cities of our land show plainly that conditions 
have not improved in this respect since the closing 
years of the third quarter of the nineteenth century, 



142 



THE COMING KING 



but rather have grown worse. The words of the apos- 
tle are true whether applied to church or world, "Evil 
men and seducers shall wax worse and worse." 

But abounding iniquity in the form of crime is 
not alone seen in municipal, state, and national cor- 
ruption. Vice stalks unabashed even in public places 
in many of our cities. Intemperance is one of the 
great and crying evils of our time. Yet its enormity, 
as it really exists, is seldom appreciated. Nor do we 
confine these evils to our own borders ; no sooner are 
heathen peoples brought in touch with civilization than 
they are also contaminated with the white man's vices. 

"Years ago," says the Methodist Protestant of Sept. 14, 1910, 
"the missionaries went to Hawaii and Christianized it. Then the 
saloons went there and they are heathenizing it again. They are in 
full control there now, and conditions are yearly growing worse." 

There is a cry in the land against the oppression 
of the rich. There is a demand for bread for the 
poor. There is reason enough for all this; but there 
is a terrible slavery worse than that which is caused 
by the oppression of monopolists and money kings, 
— the slavery of vice, of perverted appetite. Habit 
forming drugs — alcohol, tobacco, opium, cocaine, etc., 
are doing their deadly work on every hand. 

As far back as 1887, it was shown by the report 
of the Commissioner of International Revenue that for 
that year there was expended in the " United States 
$600,000,000 for tobacco, and $900,000,000 for liquor. 
By an examination of the accompanying statistics some 
idea may be had of the enormous expenditure of ma- 
terial, labor, and money in the manufacture and con- 
sumption of these poisonous products. If liquor and 
tobacco were wiped out of the land it would result in 



INIQUITY SHALL ABOUND 



143 



a saving sufficient to educate all the children, support 
all the churches and foreign missions, and to almost 
buy all the staple groceries consumed by all the 
people.* 

The influence of debasing appetites is truly awful, 
especially upon the young; and what can we expect 
from the rising generation, brought up under existing 
conditions. The liquor dealers are alive to their own 
selfish interests, and are looking to the youth to sup- 
ply them with patrons in the near future, and are 
sparing no pains to create in them a love for various 
alcoholic liquors, as an offset to the various temper- 
ance measures which are cutting into their business. 

In countries outside the United States the same 
evils prevail, and in still greater extent. 

* TOBACCO 

1908 — Total product in the U. S. — 718,061,380 pounds, valued at $74,130,185. 

1909 — Number of cigars manufactured in U. S. — 7,783,311,453. 
1909 — Number of cigarettes manufactured in U. S. — 6,105,441,179. 

Total male population in the U. S. in round numbers 45,000,000. Therefore 
there was in 1909 manufactured in the United States a sufficient number of cigars 
and cigarettes to supply every man and every boy, even if only an infant in arms, 
with 173 cigars, and 135 cigarettes. 

* WINES, BEERS, AND DISTILLED LIQUORS 

1909 — Number of gallons of fermented liquors produced in the U. S. — 1,068,- 
347,482. Number of gallons imported, 6,907,105. Grand total, 1,075,254,587 gals. 

In 1908 the number of gallons of alcoholic liquors of all kinds consumed in 
the United States was 2,006,233,408, or something over 22 gallons for every man, 
woman, and child. 

In 1907 out of a corn crop of 2,553,730,000 bushels, 36,000,000 bushels were used 
in the manufacture of 144,000,000 gallons of distilled liquors, or, stating our popula- 
tion in round numbers as 90,000,000, an average of 1.6 gallons for every man, 
woman, and child. 

* In the World At Large 

In 1905 the wine production of the world, according to the French publication 
Moniteur Vincola, was 3,775,060,000, or nearly two and one-half gallons for each 
human being. 

In 1899 the world's production of beer was five and a quarter billions of gal- 
lons, or nearly five gallons for each member of the human family at that time. 
Doubtless the production of beer has fully kept pace with the increase of popula- 
tion and probably more. 



144 



THE COMING KING 



In England there is consumed annually thirty -five gallons of malt 
liquor per capita, as compared with eleve7i gallons in the United States. 

Ireland, where a large number of the people "are scarcely able to 
secure a livelihood" ("International Encyclopedia,") spends an- 
nually about ^11,000,000, or $55,000,000, in drink. 

In Russia the greatest item of revenue is that derived from brandy. 

In Belgium there is a dramshop for every six or seven persons, 
and the working classes spend annually about 55,000,000 francs, or 
$11,000,000, for alcoholic drinks. 

In France it is said that ' ' drunkenness is the beginning and end- 
ing of life in the great French industrial centers." It is estimated 
that at Lille, one-fourth of the men, and one-eighth of the women are 
confirmed drunkards. 

Mr. Labaree, a missionary to Persia, writes : ' ' There is scarcely a 
community to be found where the blighting influences of intemper- 
ance are not to be seen in families distressed and ruined, property 
squandered, character destroyed, and lives lost." 

The Encyclopedia Britannica informs us that Germany and Prus- 
sia use annually about twenty gallons of beer and two and one-third 
gallons of spirits per capita. 

But turning from the terrible records of intemper- 
ance and crime which are flooding the earth, all 
naturally expect to find in the professed followers of 
Christ an element free from these taints of sin and 
folly, waging an unceasing warfare against evil and 
iniquity of every kind. 

But on this point we find the word of God speak- 
ing plainly: "This know also, that in the last days 
perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of 
their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphem- 
ers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, with- 
out natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, 
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more 
than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but 
denying the power thereof." 2 Timothy 3 : 1-5. 



INIQUITY SHALL ABOUND 



145 



These denunciations are made against those who 
have a form of godliness. They are called Christians, 
but have either never known the power of true god- 
liness, or are backslidden in heart and life. 

A church which allows among its members such 
sins as those mentioned by the apostle, cannot be 
standing in the light which surrounds God's true 
church on earth. The inevitable conclusion is that 
such churches have fallen, that they occupy the po- 
sition of Babylon, as described in so many places in 
the Book of Revelation, for "Babylon" means "con- 
fusion." The refusal to follow the precious light of 
God's word has brought confusion and iniquity into 
many churches of the day. Yet in them there are 
many honest souls who deplore these evils. To such 
the message comes with the sound of a bugle call : 
"Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partak- 
ers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." 
Revelation 18: 4. 

What is the condition of the popular churches of 
to-day? Let their own leaders tell. 

Rev. Geo. F. Pentecost, in the Christian Statesman, of Jan. 8, 
1876, says : "A confession can be had from the lips of the pastors of 
most of our churches, that in our midst there are wicked, unholy, cor- 
rupt men who maintain their position, and are saved from a righteous 
discipline either by their wealth or their social position." 

Says Robert Atkins, in a sermon preached in London: "The 
truly righteous are diminished from the earth, and no man layeth it 
to heart. The professors of religion of the present day, in every 
church, are lovers of the world, conformers to the world, lovers of 
creature comfort. ' ' 

If Mr. Pentecost and Mr. Atkins were speaking to- 
day they might well deplore not only a lack of spirit- 
uality in the church but open infidelity even in a 
10 



146 



THE COMING KING 



large section of the ministry. In 1909 the New York 
Presbytery ordained and sent out as a missionary a 
man who upon his examination denied the virgin 
birth and the resurrection of Christ. The matter was 
brought to the attention of the General Assembly in 
the following spring, but the only action taken was 
in the form of a very mild resolution suggesting 
greater care in the examination of candidates for the 
ministry ! 

The "higher criticism" as everybody knows, dis- 
credits a large part of the Bible. Under the hand of 
the higher critic the Bible becomes not an inspired 
book, given by the Creator, but a book written and 
compiled by different men who of course put into 
their productions the best thought and light of the 
various ages in which they lived and wrote, but who 
had no more divine enlightenment than may come to 
any man who concentrates his mind upon the study 
of moral themes. The man who in speaking to a 
large audience attains to unusual heights of thought 
and eloquence is just as much inspired as were the 
prophets or the apostles, says the critic, and some 
would go so far as to say even as the Lord Himself. In 
fact, the higher criticism . destroys the Bible of our 
forefathers and gives us in its stead a man-made code 
of ethics supplemented by homilies inspired only by 
circumstances and not by the Spirit of God. Is it any 
wonder that under such conditions iniquity abounds, 
that spirituality is at low ebb, and that the church 
is filled with "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of 
God"? 

H. Mattison, D. D., in "Popular Amusements," says: "You 
Methodists, who were once poor and unknown, but have grown rich 



INIQUITY SHALL ABOUND 



147 



and prominent in the world, have left the narrow way in which you 
walked twenty or thirty years ago, have ceased to attend class meet- 
ings, seldom pray in your families or in prayer meetings, as you once 
did ; and you are now indulging in many of the fashionable amuse- 
ments of the day, such as playing chess, dominoes, billiards, and 
cards, dancing, and attending theaters, or are allowing your children 
to indulge in them." 

Contrasting Methodism as it appears to-day with Methodism of 
half or three-quarters of a century ago, Prof. S. C. Bartlett, of Chicago, 
says in the New York Independent : * ' Religion now is in a different 
position from Methodism then. To a certain extent it is a very repu- 
table thing. Christianity is, in our day, something of a success. Men 
' speak well of it. Ex-presidents and statesmen have been willing to 
round off their career with a recognition of its claims, and the popu- 
larity of religion tends vastly to increase the number of those who 
would secure its benefits without squarely meeting its duties. The 
church courts the world, and the world caresses the church. The 
line of separation between the godly and irreligious fades out into a 
kind of penumbra, and zealous men on both sides are toiling to oblit- 
erate all difference between their modes of action and enjoyment." 

Rev. Dr. Buckley, Editor of the New York Chris- 
tian Advocate, made a statement some years ago of 
similar import. He said that to enforce the Methodist 
Discipline would be to cut their membership in half. 
Some years later the Discipline was modified in cer- 
tain particulars, but we submit that even in its 
modified form it is not enforced, and could not be 
enforced, so far have the Methodists departed from 
their former simplicity. 

The late Mr. Moody uttered the following scathing words in a 
sermon delivered in Baltimore: ' 'Your fairs and your bazaars won't 
do, and your voting, your casting of ballots for the most popular man 
or the most popular woman, just helps along their vanity. It grieves 
the Spirit ; it offends God. They have got so far now that for twenty- 
five cents, young men can come in and kiss the handsomest woman in 
the room. Think of this ! Look at the church lotteries going on in 
New York. Before God, I would rather preach in any barn, or in the 
most miserable hovel on earth, than within the walls of a church paid 
for in such a way." 



"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall 
show great signs and wonders ; insomuch that, if it were possi- 
ble, they shall deceive the very elect." Matthew 24 : 24. 



Christ not only foretold what He would do in the 
future, but He also forewarned His disciples of what 
the enemy would do to deceive them and cause their 
destruction. False Christs and false prophets were to 
arise, and by the use of miraculous powers, which they 
possessed, and which were of satanic origin, would de- 
ceive the people. 

In every age since the ascension of Christ there 
have arisen men, who, either as false Christs or as false 
prophets, have deceived the people. Said Christ, 
" Take heed that ye be not deceived : for many shall 
come in My name, saying, ] am Christ; and the time 
draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. ,, Luke 
21 : 8. 

Many false Christs and false prophets arose among 
the Jews, between Christ's ascension and the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem. (See chapter, Destruction of Jeru- 
salem.) 

Mohammed, though not pretending to be a Christ, 
was, nevertheless, a " false prophet." He was the origi- 
nator of the Mohammedan religion. This religion has 
been established both by persuasion and by the sword, 
and twice did the followers of Mohammed almost sweep 
[148] 



VALSH CHRISES AND FALSB PROPHETS 149 

Christianity from trie earth. They now number about 
two hundred millions, and a high authority declares 
that " no other faith offers so stubborn a resistance to 
the spread of Christianity." 

The prophecy of Christ, however, makes these 
words of warning in regard to false Christs and false 
prophets, apply with peculiar force just at the time 
when His second coming is near. The prophecy shows 
that as the attention of the world will be called to 
the nearness of the Lord's coming, Satan will bestir 
himself to furnish false teachers who will claim that 
their work is the coming of Christ. Hence, the doc- 
trine is widely taught that Christ will never literally 
come again, that His coming is only a spiritual com- 
ing. Others teach that the world is to be converted 
before the coming of the Lord. 

The Mormons, who established themselves in the 
desert of Utah, come within the compass of Christ's 
warning words : " Wherefore if they shall say unto 
you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth." Mat- 
thew 24 : 26. 

Modern Spiritualism is evidently the work of ly- 
ing, seducing spirits. Many of the devotees of this 
great delusion claim that the second coming of Christ is 
seen in the dissemination of the doctrines of Spiritualism. 

Spiritualists, almost universally, deny the atone- 
ment of Christ, and teach that every man is his own 
Saviour. Of these the apostle says: "There shall be 
false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in 
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought 
them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.' ' 
2 Peter 2:1. Spiritualists have claimed that they were 
Christ, — that all good men are Christ. They invite 



I50 THE COMING KINO 

us to their secret seances, but Christ has told us if 
they say, " He is in the secret chambers, believe it not." 

Christian Science is presented to us as the coming 
of Christ. A writer in the Christian Science Journal 
of October, 1897, referring to the fact that there was 
an expectation in the minds of many persons that 
Christ would come in 1866, asks: "Was it a coin- 
cidence that Christian Science should have been dis- 
covered in the year 1866? . . . There is no reason for 
expecting that the beginning of the new dispensation 
should be so very different from the years preceding 
it, that is, from the standpoint of mortal man. Are 
not all God's works performed through the still, small 
voice? It was in this manner, and in this year of 
1866, that Rev. Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian 
Science, which, from the testimony of Jesus and the 
apostles, we feel sure is the second coming of Christ." 

But Christian Science is not the second coming 
of Christ. It will be more than a still, small voice, 
for " the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with 
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the 
trump of God." 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Christ will 
then be " revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 
in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know 
not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 2 Thessalonians 1 : 7, 8. 

Christ has Himself declared that He will come as 
He went away, in the clouds of heaven ; that " every 
eye shall see Him ; " that His brightness and glory 
shall be like the lightning shining from the eastern 
to the western horizon. If we believe His words, we 
shall not be deceived by the numerous cries of " Lo, 
here," or " Lo, there." 




Parable 

OF THE 

Fig-Tree 



"Now learn a parable of the fig-tree; When 
his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, 
ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, 
when ye shall see all these things, know that 
it is near, even at the doors." Matthew 24: 
32, 33. 



In Matthew 24 : 3, the disciples asked the 
question, "What shall be the sign of Thy 
coming, and of the end of the world?" Most care- 
fully does the Lord answer this question. He first 
reviews the great events which were to take place 
on the earth. Jerusalem was to be destroyed; the 
elect, or true people of God, were to pass through 
the most terrible period of persecution which had 
ever come upon God's people. The nations of the 
earth were to be rent with wars, and perplexed and 
distressed with the rumors and alarms of war. Great 
calamities were to come upon the earth, such as fam- 
ines, pestilences, and earthquakes. These were to be- 
come more frequent and desolating until the final 
plagues of God should end in its destruction. 

As the days of this world's history should draw to 
a close, our Saviour promised that unmistakable and 
striking signs would appear in the heavens. The sun 
would be darkened ; the moon would refuse to give 
her light; and the stars would fall from heaven. 

These were to be tokens of Christ's coming; for 

[151] 



THE COMING KING 



He says: "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of 
man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the 
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming 
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 
Matthew 24 : 30. 

Within the lifetime of people now living, the 
heavens have been ablaze with the glory of these very 
signs which were to immediately precede the second 
coming of Christ. 

But it is Satan's chief purpose to lull the world 
to sleep, so that these signs and the warning message 
of God's servants will have no effect. 

The Saviour knew that this would be the case, and 
so He sounded the warning : " Take heed that no man 
deceive you." Verse 4. There are two ways in which 
we may be deceived in regard to the coming of the 
Lord. One is to believe that He has come when He 
has not, and the other is to deny the signs that He 
has given to show that His coming is near, and so be 
found unbelieving and unprepared at His coming. 

The signs foretold by our Saviour were given that 
men might know of His coming. He says, "Now 
learn a parable of the fig-tree; When his branch is 
yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that sum- 
mer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these 
things, know that it [margin, "He," Christ,] is near, 
even at the doors." Matthew 24 : 32, 33. 

When the trees begin to bud and put forth leaves, 
we know that summer is near. No one will presume 
to deny it. It is a sign that never fails. To those 
who will heed this warning, Christ states that the 
signs He has given are just as positive evidence that 
His coming is near, "even at the doors." 



PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE 1 53 



"These things" to which Christ refers as signs of 
His near coming, are given in Luke 21 : 25, 26: "And 
there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and 
in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, 
with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's 
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those 
things which are coming on the earth." 

We are living in an age when " all these things " 
have been fulfilled, or are transpiring all around us. 
L,et history respond to the great prophecy of our 
Saviour, as found in the 24th chapter of Matthew: — 

Jerusalem was destroyed within forty years of the 
giving of this prophecy. See Luke 21:20,21. The 
great tribulation of Matthew 24:21, 22, is in the past. 
The sun was darkened May 19, 1780. The falling of 
the stars occurred Nov. 13, 1833. Wars and rumors 
of wars are becoming more frequent and startling. 
Distress and perplexity are spread upon all nations, 
and the enormous standing armies are taxing the re- 
sources of the world. 

The awful tidal waves, and the more frequently 
recurring cyclones and earthquakes, show that God's 
restraining hand is being removed, and the prince of 
the power of the air is permitted to work out his evil 
purposes in the destructive elements of wind and water. 
Famine and pestilence are abroad in the land. Says 
Christ: — 

"Now learn a parable of the fig-tree; When his 
branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know 
that summer is nigh: so likewise ye when ye shall see 
all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 
Verily 1 say unto you, This generation shall not pass, 
till all these things be fulfilled." Matthew 24:32-34. 



GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS 




" Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." 



No great judgment has ever been brought upon the 
earth without a warning being given to those con- 
cerned. Before the flood the world was warned by 
Noah. Jonah was sent to Ninevah. Angels from 
heaven carried the message of impending doom to 
Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold 
the Babylonish captivity of the Jews, and the Saviour 
warned the Jews of the final overthrow of their city 
and nation. 

The text in our chapter heading contains the 
statement that before the coming of Christ and the 
setting up of His everlasting kingdom, the gospel, or 
good news pertaining to it, shall go to all the nations 
of the world. It is a world-wide message. 

This text does not state that all the world will be 
converted. The Scriptures clearly show that but few 
will accept the message ; but all will have the oppor- 
tunity of hearing it, and preparing to meet their Iyord 
if they desire to do so. In the great judgment-day 
the unprepared will stand without excuse ; for to earth's 
remotest bounds this gospel will be proclaimed, and 
[i54] 



GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS 



155 



this fact will be a witness against those who refuse to 
hear the message, and against those who reject it. 

Already this gospel of the soon coming of our 
Lord has gone to nearly all nations of the earth. 
Believers in it are to be found among all denomina- 
tions and in many pulpits. Missionaries are going to 
all lands. The Bible is printed and circulated in 
almost every known language, and God has forces al- 
ready at command with which to close this message of 
Matthew 24:14 in a very short time. All this is but 
another evidence that the coming King is at the door. 

" But of that day and hour knoweth no man/' 
Matthew 24 : 36. We may not know the " day and 
hour/' but Matthew 24 gives certain signs that precede 
that event, and, "When ye shall see all these things, 
know that it is near, even at the doors/ ' Verse 33. 

Hence we may know when our Lord's appearing is 
"near, even at the doors;" but we cannot know the 
exact time, for this the Lord has kept in His own 
hands. 

But, says one, the apostle Paul writes : "Of the 
times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that 
] write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that 
the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." 
1 Thessalonians 5:1,2. 

This is taken to prove that the matter has been 
fully settled, and so there is no need of giving it any 
further attention. But notice carefully what Paul says 
further on this subject: "But ye, brethren, are not 
in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a 
thief." Verse 4. 

There is a class, however, upon whom this day 
will come as a thief. "For when they shall say, 



156 



THE COMING KING 



Peace and safety ; then sudden destruction cometh upon 
them ; . . . and they shall not escape." Verse 3. 

Those who are studying God's word, will not be 
left in darkness. Hence in Mark 13:35 the Lord com- 
mands us to "watch." For what? — For evidences in 
His word that His coming is near, so that His people 
may know, and be prepared to receive Him "with joy" 
when He appears. 

But to those who are not watching, who cry " peace 
and safety," and say that we can know nothing about 
it, the King will come as a thief, and their end will 
be destruction. 

Of this class are those spoken of by the Saviour : 
"And if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My 
lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his 
fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken ; 
the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he 
looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not 
aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him 
his portion with the hypocrites : there shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 24:48-51. 

It is important that we know when the coming of 
the Lord is near. Especial preparation is necessary 
for that event ; and if we neglect the warning given, 
that great day will overtake us as a thief, and we shall 
share the recompense of the ungodly. 

But by those who have been watching and wait- 
ing for their Lord, that day will be hailed with joy, 
and the glad cry will go up, as they see the sign of 
the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, " Lo, this is 
our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save 
us : this is the Lord ; we have waited for Him, we will 
be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Isaiah 25 : 9. 




When our Lord returns to this earth, He will find 
two classes of people. One class will have complied 
with the overtures of the gospel, and so will be ac- 
cepted. The other class will have refused the offers 
of mercy, and will be rejected. 

Some will doubtless be deceived as to their true 
condition up to the very coming of Christ to earth. He 
says : " Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, 
have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy 
name have cast out devils ? and in Thy name done many 
wonderful works ? And then will 1 profess unto them, 
] never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work in- 
iquity." Matthew 7 : 22, 23. 

There will therefore be a class of professed Chris- 
tians who will be rejected of the Lord. The testi- 
mony on this point is plain : " Not every one that 
saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king- 
dom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My 
Father which is in heaven." Matthew 7:21. 

We may belong to the church ; our profession may 
be as high as heaven; but these things will not be 
considered in the great judgment-day. The question 
that will decide destinies for eternity is, Have you 
done "the will of My Father?" 

The Bible is God's written will to us. It is His 

[157] 



158 



THE COMING KING 



explanation to us of the only way by which we can 
be saved. In the judgment-day our actions will be 
compared with the Book of Instruction, and our cases 
will be decided accordingly. If we have accepted the 
overtures of mercy as offered through Christ, and have 
done the will of the Father, an "abundant entrance' ' 
to the final reward will be granted us. If we have 
chosen our own way, or have followed the teachings 
of men instead of the word of God, the sentence will 
be, "1 never knew you: depart from Me." 

Those who do the will of God belong to the king- 
dom of God. All who do not obey God belong to the 
kingdom of Satan, no matter how moral and upright 
they may be outwardly. Of such Christ says, "He 
that is not with Me is against Me ; and He that gath- 
ereth not with Me scattereth abroad." Matthew 12 : 30. 
There is no neutral ground. 

A profession of religion and membership in the 
church will not save us, nor make our influence right 
here upon the earth. The Jews had a profession the 
highest the world has ever known, and their church 
requirements were very rigid ; but their principles of 
service were wrong, and they crucified the Lord of life. 

The Jews claimed that they were the children of 
Abraham ; that they were heirs to the promises made 
to him, and so, of course, that they were perfectly safe. 
But John the Baptist told them not to make that 
claim, as it would not hold ; for their hearts were not 
right before God, who, the Saviour declared, was "ab)e 
of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." 
Matthew 3:9. The securing of eternal life is an in- 
dividual work, regardless of birth, church relationship, 
or any profession we may make. 



ONE TAKEN, ANOTHER LEFT 1 59 



Neither does God judge from outward appearance. 
It is not our acts alone that will be taken into ac- 
count. " For the Lord seeth not as man seeth ; for 
man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord 
Jooketh on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7. Our charac- 
ter must be right before God can give us the final 
reward. Our thoughts and desires often influence our 
character more than do our words and actions. 

The force and application of the words of Mat- 
thew 24 : 40, 41, are very clear: "Then shall two be in 
the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 
Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one 
shall be taken, and the other left." 

No matter how close the association may be, God 
knows those who are truly His. Two men may work 
side by side in the field, in the shop, or in the office. 
Both may have their names on the same church record. 
The one may have made his peace with heaven, while 
the other, by disbelief of the truth sent from the Lord, 
will stand among the rejected. 

The old custom of grinding the family supply of 
flour is also taken to show the closeness of the final 
test. Two women join together to do their grinding, 
as shown in the picture at the head of this article. 
The one may be a member of God's kingdom on earth, 
and so be fitted for the wonderful home Christ is pre- 
paring, while the other may still belong to the king- 
dom of the enemy. 

The godly character of our most intimate associates 
will not save us. Each individual must make his own 
peace with heaven. For "though these three men, 
Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in" the land, "they 
should deliver but their own souls." Ezekiel 14 : 14. 





"Surely the Lord God will do nothing:, 
but He revealeth His secret unto His 
servants the prophets." Amos 3 : 7. 



The Revelation 



The fulfillment of this text may be verified from 
the Bible, from the days of Moses to the prophecies 
of John on the Isle of Patmos. 

The world was warned of a flood through one 
hundred and twenty years of the preaching of Noah. 
For many years Israel was warned of their impending 
captivity to the Babylonians. Years before the birth 
of Cyrus he was called by name as the one who 
would overthrow Babylon and bring liberty to the 
Jews. The length of the Jewish captivity was fore- 
told, and also the time of the return of this nation 
to Jerusalem. Daniel gave the date when Christ would 
begin His ministry, the time of His death, and the 
time when the apostles should begin their mission to 
the Gentiles. The Bible abounds in other instances 
fully as remarkable as these. 

It is not reasonable to suppose that the most im- 
portant event in all the history of the world,— the 
second coming of Christ, — would be overlooked, and 
the world be left in darkness regarding it. The read- 
ing of our text forbids such a supposition. As we 
search we find that both Old and New Testaments 



[160] 



THE REVELATION 



161 



abound in prophecies concerning this momentous event. 
Dr. Blickersteth, of England, affirms that one-eighteenth 
of the New Testament is devoted to this subject. 

The Book of Revelation 

Especially to the Christian era belongs the Book 
of Revelation. Its prophecies reach from the days of 
John's exile to the coming of Christ, the resurrection, 
the New Jerusalem, and the earth made new. 

By some this book is considered as one of the 
hidden mysteries of God. But such a view cannot be 
harmonized with the opening verses of the first chap- 
ter. Let us read them: — 

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave 
unto Him, to show unto His servants things which 
must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified 
it by His angel unto His servant John : who bare 
record of the word of God, and of the testimony of 
Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw." Revela- 
tion i : i, 2. 

Such is the purpose of this book. It is given to 
reveal to God's people the most important events 
which were to transpire during the time known as 
the Christian era. The very name of the book ex- 
presses its mission. Certainly that which is revealed 
in God's word should not be considered as hidden 
and obscured. Moses declares that "Those things 
which are revealed belong unto us and to our children 
forever/' Deuteronomy 29:29. 

And that the mission of the Revelation should 
not be belittled or misunderstood, the promise is given, 
"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the 
words of this prophecy, and keep those things which 
11 



l62 



THE COMING KING 



are written therein: for the time is at hand." Reve- 
lation i : 3. We cannot avoid the conclusion that 
the teachings of this book are of the utmost impor- 
tance, and especially to us who live so near the com- 
ing of our Ivord. 

But to impress our minds more fully, the last 
chapter states, "These sayings are faithful and true: 
and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His 
angel to show unto His servants the things which 
must shortly be done. Behold, 1 come quickly: bles- 
sed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of 
this book." Revelation 22 : 6, 7. 

It is true that much of the book of Revelation 
is symbolic. So also are many of the important 
prophecies of the Old Testament. Our Saviour taught 
in parables, and so pronounced was this method of 
teaching that on one occasion it is said that " with- 
out a parable spake He not unto them." Matthew 
13:34. 

Yet to those who desired to understand them these 
parables were made plain. They were obscure only 
to those who rejected the messages which were thus 
brought to them. To the followers of Jesus in all 
ages these parables have been an unfailing source of 
edification and comfort. 

God's word was given for the instruction of His 
people, and as a guide until our Lord shall take them 
home to their final great reward. But the truths con- 
tained in the parables and symbols of the prophecies 
are not, and can not be, plain to the mere casual 
reader. The wealth of the wisdom of the Bible is 
compared to a mine, in which we are to "search" 
and "dig" as for "hid treasures." 



The: REVELATION 



163 



To the earnest student an unfailing interpreter is 
promised. "When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, 
He will guide you into all truth : . . . and He will 
show you things to come." John 16:13. 

The Angels in Prophecy 

In all time angels have been actively employed in 
carrying forward God's work in the earth. As such 
they are many times introduced in the prophecies. 
But in the Revelation they are especially presented 
in various ways and with different missions. 

In chapters one to three, seven angels are repre- 
sented as bringing special words of comfort, warning, 
and reproof to the church of Christ. These angels 
represent the faithful ministers who fail not to pro- 
claim all the gospel to the church of God. 

In chapter 7:1, four angels are shown "holding 
the four winds of the earth." In symbolic language 
the blowing of the winds signifies war and strife 
among nations. The " four corners of the earth " 
embrace all the kingdoms of the world. In this verse 
the " four angels " symbolize the various agencies by 
which God restrains the war spirit of the nations until 
the number of His people are made up and "sealed" 
for His kingdom. 

In chapter 8:2, 6, seven angels are presented to 
the prophet as proclaiming seven awful calamities 
which were to come upon the world. 

In the fourteenth chapter three angels are intro- 
duced which have special messages to proclaim to the 
world just prior to the coming of the Lord. These 
messages apply to the times in which we live, and 
will be considered in succeeding chapters. 



The First Angel's Message 

" And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting 
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and 
kindred, and tongue, and people. Saying, with a loud voice, Fear God, and give 
glory to Him ; for the hour of His judgment is come : and worship Him that made 
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters/' Revelation 14: 6, 7* 

In the visions of earlier chapters, many angels 
were presented to the prophet. Hence, when his at- 
tention is directed to the first of a new series, he nat- 
urally .speaks of it as "another angel." 

The messages of this chapter may be considered 
as " the three angels' messages of Revelation 14." We 
are justified in so numbering them, for of the last it 
is said, "the third angel followed them. ,, The one 
preceding was therefore the second angel, and the one 
preceding that the first. 

"The Everlasting Gospel" 

The world through all ages has had but the one 
gospel of salvation through our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. It is as old as the plan of redemption, 
and will continue in force until the mission of the 
gospel is accomplished, and the number of the saved 
is made up. 

The three messages of this chapter are to prepare 
a people to stand "faultless before the presence of 
His glory" in the kingdom of God. See Jude 24. 

[164] 



THE FIRST ANGEL'S MESSAGE 165 

Hence the preparation for so great an event demands 
a revival of vital godliness, and a perfection of char- 
acter which can be brought about only by a power- 
ful proclamation of the " everlasting gospel." This is 
to fit a people for translation. 

Angels do not come in person as teachers and 
preachers. This work has been intrusted to men. 
Hence the angels in this chapter must be symbolic, 
each representing a body of religious teachers who 
proclaim the truths of the message they represent. 

" The Hour of His Judgment " 

It is this feature which gives definiteness to the 
message. It is this which arouses the world. One 
author on the prophecies writes, " The burden of this 
angel was to be the same gospel which had been before 
proclaimed, but connected with it was the additional 
motive of the proximity of the kingdom." 

This message could not have been given in the 
early days of the church, for it embraces the "judg- 
ment," and that takes place during the closing days 
of earth's history. In the days of Paul the judgment 
was not in progress, for he reasoned before Felix of 
"righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come." 
Acts 24: 25. 

Neither can "the hour of His judgment" be de- 
ferred until Christ shall appear. The judgment begins 
during the sounding of the first angel's message. Two 
others are to follow, and the mission of the three is 
to prepare a people for the coming of their Lord. 
He will not come until the work of these messages 
is completed. Each message requires time in its 
proclamation, for they are all world-wide. The judg- 



1 66 



The coming king 



ment is in progress during the proclamation of all 
three of these messages, for it is ushered in by the first. 
Hence, it begins years before our Lord appears in the 
clouds of heaven. 

Upon whom, then, will this judgment begin? 
Surely not upon the living, for they are still in the 
valley of decision. Their future still depends upon 
their acceptance or rejection of these three testing 
messages. 

It must, therefore, begin with the " great majority," 
the vast army of the dead. These are the only ones 
whose race is run, whose life-work is finished, whose 
record is complete, whose probation is ended. It is 
the investigative judgment now in progress in the 
courts of heaven.* 

And when the work of the three messages is fin- 
ished, and all have decided for or against the truths 
proclaimed therein, the probation of the living will 
cease, and their cases will come up before the great 
tribunal of heaven for judgment. From this time the 
characters of all will be forever fixed. Then the fiat 
will go forth, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust 
still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: 
and he that is righteous, Jet him be righteous still : 
and he that is holy, let him be holy still.' * Revela- 
tion 22 : ii. 

All this takes place prior to the second coming of 
Christ. That is the next event, as brought out in 
the verse which immediately follows: "And, behold, 
] come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give 
every man according as his work shall be." He comes 
to bring the reward previously decided in the judgment. 

*For full explanation of the investigative judgment see follow- 
ing chapter on ' ' The Sanctuary. ' ' 



THE FIRST ANGEL'S MESSAGE 167 



A World-Wide Message 

This message was to go to "every nation, and 
tongue, and people." This feature was accurately ful- 
filled in the great advent movement of 1840- 1844. 
It was a world-wide, two-fold message, embracing a 
revival of the " everlasting gospel," and the proclama- 
tion of "the hour of His judgment." 

In many places godly men arose, preaching a re- 
vival of a pure gospel, connecting with it the soon 
coming of the Messiah, which coming they associated 
with the work of the "judgment," as contained in the 
message in this text. It is a noticeable fact that this 
wonderful movement sprang up almost simultaneously 
in many countries, often without connection or under- 
standing between those who carried the message. 

Of the great advent movement in America, U. 
Smith writes : — 

' ' But the strongest and most conclusive evidence that the mes- 
sage belongs to the present time will consist in finding some move- 
ment in this generation through which its fulfillment has been, or is, 
going forward. On this point we refer to a movement of which it 
would now be hard to find any one who is wholly ignorant. It is the 
great advent movement of the present century. As early as 1831, 
Wm. Miller, of Low Hampton, N.Y., by an earnest and consistent 
study of the prophecies, was led to the conclusion that the gospel dis- 
pensation was near its close. He placed the termination, which he 
thought would occur at the end of the prophetic periods, about the 
year 1843. This date was afterward extended to the autumn of 1844. 

"We call his investigations a consistent study of the prophecies, 
because he adopted that rule of interpretation which will be found 
lying at the base of every religious reformation, and of every advance 
movement in prophetic knowledge ; namely, to take all the language 
of the Scriptures, just as we would that of any other book, to be lit- 
eral, unless the context or the laws of language require it to be under- 
stood figuratively ; and to let scripture interpret scripture. True, on 
a vital point he made a mistake, as will be explained hereafter; but 
in principle, and in a great number of particulars, he was correct. He 



THE COMING KING 



was on the right road, and made an immense advance over every 
theological system of his day. 

" When he began to promulgate his views, they met with general 
favor, and were followed by great religious awakenings in different 
parts of the land. Soon a multitude of colaborers gathered around 
his standard, among whom may be mentioned such men as F. G. 
Brown, Chas. Fitch, Josiah L,itch, J. V. Himes, and others, who were 
then eminent for piety, and men of influence in the religious world. 

" The period marked by the years 1840-1844 was one of intense 
activity and great progress in this work. A message was proclaimed 
to the world which bore every characteristic of a fulfillment of the 
proclamation of Revelation 14 : 6, 7. The preaching was emphatically 
such as might be called the everlasting (age-lasting) gospel. It per- 
tained to the closing up of this age, and the incoming of the everlast- 
ing age of the King of righteousness. 

1 ' It was that gospel of the kingdom which Christ declared should 
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then 
the end should come. Matthew 24 : 14. The fulfillment of either of 
these scriptures involves the preaching of the nearness of the end. 
The gospel could not be preached to all nations as a sign of the end 
unless it was understood to be such, and the proximity of the end was 
at least one of its leading themes. . . . 

1 1 Perhaps no movement ever exhibited greater activity than this 
respecting the soon coming of Christ, and in no cause was ever more 
accomplished in so short a space of time. A religious wave swept 
over this country, and the nation was stirred as no people have been 
stirred since the opening of the great Reformation of the sixteenth 
century." — "Daniel and the Revelation " pp. 591, 592, 594. 

Of the extent of this work in England, Monrad 

Brook, an English writer, is quoted as saying: — 

"It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the 
near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning 
raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. 
In America, about three hundred ministers of the word are thus 
preaching 'this gospel of the kingdom ; ' while in this country [Great 
Britain], about seven hundred of the Church of England are raising 
the same cry." 

D. T. Taylor speaks as follows in regard to the 
diffusion of the advent sentiments in other parts of 
the world : — 

"In Wurtemburg, there is a Christian colony numbering hun- 



THE FIRST ANGEL'S MESSAGE 



169 



dreds, who look for the speedy advent of Christ ; also another of like 
belief on the shores of the Caspian ; the Molokaners, a large body of 
dissenters from the Russian Greek Church, residing on the shores of 
the Baltic — a very pious people, of whom it is said, ' Taking the Bible 
alone for their creed, the norm of their faith is simply the Holy Scrip- 
tures ' — are characterized by ' the expectation of Christ's immediate 
and visible reign upon earth.' In Russia, the doctrine of Christ's 
coming and reign is preached to some extent, and received by many 
of the lower class. 

" It has been extensively agitated in Germany, particularly in the 
south part among the Moravians. In Norway, charts and books on 
the advent have been circulated extensively, and the doctrine has 
been received by many. Among the Tartars in Tartary, there prevails 
an expectation of Christ's advent about this time. English and 
American publications on this doctrine have been sent to Holland, 
Germany, India, Ireland, Constantinople, Rome, and to nearly every 
missionary station on the globe. At the Turk's Islands, it has been 
received to some extent among the Wesleyans. 

"Mr. Fox, a Scottish missionary to the Teloogoo people, was a 
believer in Christ's soon coming. James McGregor Bertram, a Scot- 
tish missionary of the Baptist order at St. Helena, has sounded the 
cry extensively on that island, making many converts and premillen- 
ialists ; he has also preached it at South Africa at the missionary sta- 
tions there. David N. Lord informs us that a large proportion of the 
missionaries who have gone from Great Britain to make known the 
gospel to the heathen, and who are now laboring in Asia and Africa, 
are millenarians. 

"Joseph Wolff, D. D., according to his journals, between the years 
1821 and 1845, proclaimed the Lord's speedy advent in Palestine, 
Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea, Mesopotamia, the Crimea, Per- 
sia, Georgia, throughout the Ottoman empire, in Greece, Arabia, 
Toorkistan, Bokhara, Afghanistan, Cashmere, Hindostan, Thibet, 
Holland, Scotland, and Ireland, at Constantinople, Jerusalem, St. 
Helena, also on shipboard in the Mediterranean, and at New York 
City to all denominations. He declares he has preached among Jews, 
Turks, Mohammedans, Parsees, Hindoos, Chaldeans, Yeseedes, Syr- 
ians, Sabeans, to pashas, sheiks, shahs, the kings of Organtsh and 
Bokhara, the queen of Greece, etc. ; and of his extraordinary labors, 
the Investigator says, ' No individual has, perhaps, given greater pub- 
licity to the -doctrine of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ 
than has this well-known missionary to the world. Wherever he 
goes, he proclaims the approaching advent of the Messiah in glory.' " 
— " Voice of the Church" pp. 342-344. 




"God was pleased to send His message through the children." 
[170] 



the first angel's message 



"In Scandinavia also the advent message was proclaimed, and a 
wide-spread interest was kindled. Many were roused from their care- 
less security, to confess and forsake their sins, and seek pardon in the 
name of Christ. But the clergy of the State church opposed the 
movement, and through their influence some who preached the mes- 
sage were thrown into prison. In many places where the preachers 
of the Lord's soon coming were thus silenced, God was pleased to 
send the message, in a miraculous manner, through little children. 
As they were under age, the law of the State could not restrain them, 
and they were permitted to speak unmolested. 

"The movement was chiefly among the lower class, and it was 
in the humble dwellings of the laborers that the people assembled to 
hear the warning. The child-preachers themselves were mostly poor 
cottagers. Some of them were not more than six or eight years of 
age, and while their lives testified that they loved the Saviour, and 
were trying to live in obedience to God's holy requirements, they or- 
dinarily manifested only the intelligence and ability usually seen in 
children of that age. When standing before the people, however, it 
was evident that they were moved by an influence beyond their own 
natural gifts. Tone and manner changed, and with solemn power 
they gave the warning of the judgment, employing the very words of 
Scripture, ' Fear God, and give glory to Him ; for the hour of His 
judgment is come.' They reproved the sins of the people, not only 
condemning immorality and vice, but rebuking worldliness and back- 
sliding, and warning their hearers to make haste to flee from the 
wrath to come. 

"The people heard with trembling. The convicting Spirit of 
God spoke to their hearts. Many were led to search the Scriptures 
with new and deeper interest, the intemperate and immoral were re- 
formed, others abandoned their dishonest practises, and a work was 
done so marked that even ministers of the State church were forced to 
acknowledge that the hand of God was in the movement. It was 
God's will that the tidings of the Saviour's coming should be given in 
the Scandinavian countries ; and when the voices of His servants were 
silenced, He put His Spirit upon the children, that the work might be 
accomplished." — "Great Controversy" pp. 366, 367. 

An American Reformer 

It is to Wm. Miller that America looks as the 
father of the advent movement of 1 840-1 844. He 
was born at Pittsford, Mass., Feb. 15, 1782. Hence at 
the 14 disappointment " of 1844 he was 62 years of age. 



172 



THE COMING KING 



His early years were spent in work on his father's 
farm at Low Hampton, N. Y., to which place the 
Miller family removed in 1786. His opportunities 
for an education were limited, yet by the light of a 
pitch-pine torch at the primitive fireplace, he stored 



commission. His regiment saw considerable active ser- 
vice, and during the war there was much to admire in 
Mr. Miller as a soldier. 

In his early manhood Mr. Miller became associated 
with a class of men who, though good citizens as the 
world goes, were deeply affected with skeptical prin- 
ciples and deistical theories. Ever a student, he read 
the popular infidel works of his day, and at length 
avowed himself a deist. But in 181 6, at the age of 




his mind with his- 
torical and other 
knowledge which be- 
came the foundation 
of his future active 
and important life- 
work. 



As Mr. Miller 



J 



grew to manhood, he 
was highly respected 
for his intelligence 
and sturdy integrity. 
He filled numerous 
positions of trust and 
responsibility among 
his fellow townsmen. 
He enlisted in the 
war of 181 2, and re- 
ceived a captain's 



THE FIRST ANGEL'S MESSAGE 



173 



34 years, he began a careful reading of the Bible. 
He soon became convinced of the authenticity of the 
Scriptures, and of the divinity of Jesus Christ. At 
last he accepted Him as his Saviour. 

Of this experience he wrote : "I was constrained 
to admit that the Scriptures must be a revelation 
from God. They became my delight ; and in Jesus I 
found a friend. . . . The Bible now became my chief 
study, and I can truly say, I searched it with great 
delight." 

His method of study carries a lesson to every 
Bible student. Of this, one who was actively engaged 
in this wonderful religious awakening of 1844, and 
conversant with Mr. Miller's experience, writes : — 

" Endeavoring to lay aside all preconceived opinions, and dispens- 
ing with commentaries, he compared scripture with scripture by the 
aid of the marginal references and the concordance. He pursued his 
study in a regular and methodical manner ; beginning with Genesis, 
and reading verse by verse, he proceeded no faster than the meaning 
of the several passages so unfolded as to leave him free from all em- 
barrassment. 

* ' When he found anything obscure, it was his custom to compare 
it with every other text which seemed to have any reference to the 
matter under consideration. Every word was permitted to have its 
proper bearing upon the subject of the text, and if his view of it har- 
monized with every collateral passage, it ceased to be a difficulty. 
Thus whenever he met with a passage hard to be understood, he 
found an explanation in some other portion of the Scriptures. As he 
studied, with earnest prayer for divine enlightenment, that which had 
before appeared dark to his understanding was made clear. He ex- 
perienced the truth of the psalmist's words, ' The entrance of Thy 
words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.' 

" With intense interest he studied the books of Daniel and the 
Revelation, employing the same principles of interpretation as in the 
other scriptures, and found, to his great joy, that the prophetic sym- 
bols could be understood. He saw that the prophecies, so far as they 
had been fulfilled, had been fulfilled literally ; that all the various 
figures, metaphors, parables, similitudes, etc., were either explained 
in their immediate connection, or the terms in which they were ex- 



174 



the: coming king 



pressed were defined in other scriptures ; and when thus explained 
were to be literally understood. 'Thus I was satisfied,' he says, 
' that the Bible was a system of revealed truth so clearly and simply 
given that the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein.' 
Link after link of the chain of truth rewarded his efforts, as step by 
step he traced down the great lines of prophecy. Angels of Heaven 
were guiding his mind and opening the Scriptures to his under- 
standing." 

" His attention was especially directed to those scriptures which 
refer to the second coming of Christ. As a result he became 
convinced "that the events which were generally expected to take 
place before the coming of Christ, such as the universal reign of 
peace, and the setting up of the kingdom of God upon the earth, 
were to be subsequent to the second advent. Furthermore, all the 
signs of the times and the condition of the world correspond to the 
prophetic description of the last days. He was forced to the conclu- 
sion, from the study of Scripture alone, that the period allotted for 
the continuance of the earth in its present state was about to close." 
— " Great Controversy, ' ' pp. 320, 323. 

The 2300 Days of Daniel 8:14 

As Wm. Miller pursued the study of the Book of 
Daniel, he came to the text, " Unto two thousand and 
three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be 
cleansed." Daniel 8:14. Believing this " sanctuary " 
to be the earth, he sought earnestly for a starting point 
for the 2300 days, but for a long time without success. 

The prophet Daniel had also been left in perplex- 
ity regarding this same period. The angel, even 
Gabriel, had been bidden of God to "make this man 
[Daniel] to understand the vision." Verse 16. 

The vision of the eighth chapter embraces many 
symbols, and Gabriel begins his work of explanation. 
He makes everything plain and clear so far as he 
goes. He proceeds through all the symbols referring 
to the kingdoms of this world as given in the first 
twelve verses. This explanation is found in verses 
13-26. At this point Daniel could endure no more. 



THE FIRST ANGEL'S MESSAGE 



175 



The strain upon him was too great, and "he fainted, 
and was sick certain days." 

The prophet further states, "1 was astonished at 
the vision, but none understood it." Verse 27. This 
failure to understand can refer only to the unexplained 
portion of the vision, regarding the 2300 days, as the 
rest of the vision had been fully and clearly ex- 
plained, as can be verified by a reading of the chapter. 

Daniel's heart was burdened for his people Israel. 
He knew that the seventy years allotted to their cap- 
tivity, as foretold in Jeremiah 29:10, were about fin- 
ished, but feared lest their sins had utterly separated 
them from God. He was also perplexed regarding 
the unexplained portion of the vision of the eighth 
chapter. So in a very earnest manner he seeks his 
God in his trouble and perplexity. He says, "And 1 
set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer 
and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and 
ashes." Daniel 9: 3. 

At the conclusion of this prayer the angel Gabriel 
stood by his side, and said, " O Daniel, 1 am now come 
forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the be- 
ginning of thy supplications the commandment came 
forth, and ] am come to show thee; for thou art 
greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and 
consider the vision." Daniel 9:22, 23. 

In chapter 8:16, Gabriel was commissioned to 
make Daniel "understand the vision." But one part of 
the vision remained unexplained. God's purposes will 
be carried out. So in the ninth chapter Gabriel again 
appears to Daniel, and says, " 1 am now come forth to 
give thee skill and understanding. . . . Therefore under- 
stand the matter, and consider the vision. " This must 



176 



THE COMING KING 



be to call the attention of the prophet to the unex- 
plained portion of the previous vision, which referred 
to time. So we may expect the explanation from 
Gabriel to begin with time. What are his first words? 

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people 
and upon thy holy city. . . . Know therefore and un- 
derstand, that from the going forth of the commandment 
to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the 
Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two 
weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, 
even in troublous times. And after threescore and two 
weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself. 
. . . And He shall confirm the covenant with many 
for one week : and in the midst of the week He shall 
cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.' ' Daniel 
9:24-27.* 

Gesenius, in his Hebrew Lexicon, says that the 
original here translated " determined " means properly 
to cut off.\ In plain words, seventy weeks, or 490 days 
are cut off from the 2300 days of chapter 8:14. 

The 2300 days, the 70 weeks, and similar periods 
brought into the eighth and ninth chapters of Daniel, 
must be considered as prophetic, each day standing 
for a year. Great events in the history of God's peo- 
ple, as well as with the nations of earth, are embraced 
within this period of the 2300 days. To compress all 

*Says the learned Dr. Hales, in commenting upon the seventy 
-weeks, " This chronological prophecy was evidently designed to ex- 
plain the foregoing vision, especially the chronological part of the 
2300 days. ' ' — 1 1 Chronology, ' ' Vol. II, p . 5/7. 

t" Seventy weeks have been cut off upon thy people, and upon 
thy holy city." — Whiting's Tra?islation. 

Dr. Gill, on Daniel 9 : 24, says : " That is, such a space of time is 
fixed upon ; cut out, as the word signifies." 



THE FIRST ANGEL'S MESSAGE 1 77 



this within the scope of 2300 literal days would be 
impossible. If we follow the rule of symbolic proph- 
ecy, allowing a day to represent a year, the difficulty 
vanishes, and the time thus computed corresponds 
exactly with history.* 

Chronology of the Periods 

Of the 2300 days of Daniel 8: 14, we find in chapter 
9 : 24 that 70 weeks, or 490 days, were cut off and set 
apart for the people of the Jews. This seventy weeks 
is again cut up in verses 25, 27, into three periods of 
seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and one week, the sum 
aggregating seventy . weeks as before. Hence, the 2300 
days, the seventy weeks, and the seven weeks of verse 
25, all begin at the same time.f When is this? — The 

*" The explanation of these prophetic periods is based on what is 
called the • year-day principle ; ' that is, making each day stand for a 
year, according to the Scriptural rule for the application of symbolic 
time. Ezekiel 4:6; Numbers 14 : 34. That the time in these visions 
of Daniel 8 and 9 is symbolic is evident from the nature and scope of 
the prophecy. The question calling out the answers on this point 
was, ' How long the vision? ' The vision, reckoning from 538 B. C. to 
our own time, sweeps over a period more than 2400 years in length. 
But if the 2300 days of the vision are literal days, we have a period of 
only a little over six years and a half for the duration of the kingdoms 
and the transaction of the great events brought to view, which is ab- 
surd. The year-day principle numbers among its supporters such 
names as Augustine, Tichonius, Primasius, Andreas, the venerable 
Bede, Ambrosius, Ansbertus, Berengaud, and Bruno Astensis, besides 
the leading modern expositors. ( ' ' See Elliott's Horse Apocalypticse, ' ' 
Vol. Ill, p. 241 ; and "The Sanctuary and its Cleansing," pp. 45-52.) 
But what is more conclusive than all else is the fact that the prophe- 
cies have actually been fulfilled on this principle, — a demonstration 
of its correctness from which there is no appeal. This will be found 
in the prophecy of the seventy weeks throughout, and all the pro- 
phetic periods of Daniel 7 and 12, and Revelation 9, 12, and 13." — 
"Daniel and the Revelation" pp. 197, 798. 

f Weeks of years were familiar with the people of the East, as we 
learn from Gen. 29 : 18-28. 

12 



1 7 8 



THE COMING KING 



answer is plain : " From the going forth of the com- 
mandment to restore and to build Jerusalem." Verse 25. 

In Ezra 6:14 we read that "they builded, and 
finished it [the house of the Lord], according to the 
commandment ... of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artex- 
erxes king of Persia." 

The first decree, by Cyrus, embraced only the re- 
building of the temple. See Ezra 1 : 2-4. 

The second decree, by Darius, confirmed the decree 
of Cyrus, which had been hindered, and provided lib- 
erally for the construction of the temple, but no more. 
See Ezra 6:1-12. 

But the prophetic period must date from a "com- 
mandment to restore and build Jerusalem." This com- 
plete decree was issued by Artexerxes, B. c, 457, and 
included the full rebuilding of the temple, the city of 
Jerusalem, and the restoration of the government of the 
Jews. See Ezra 7 : 12-26. 

The Response of History 

Will the dates with which we have been dealing 
correspond with history? Let us see: — 

In Daniel 9:25, we are told that there were to be 
"seven weeks," or forty-nine literal years in which 
"the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in 
troublous times." In regard to this period Prideaux 
says : — 

" In the fifteenth year of Darius Nothus ended the first seven 
weeks of Daniel's prophecy. For then the restoration of the church 
and state of the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea was fully finished, in 
that last act of reformation which is recorded in the thirteenth chap- 
ter of Nehemiah, from the twenty -third verse to the end of the chap- 
ter, just forty-nine years after it had been commenced by Ezra in the 
seventh year of Artexerxes Longimanus." — "Connection" Vol. i y p. 
322. This brings us to b. c. 409. 



THE FIRST ANGEL'S MESSAGE 



We also find in verse 25, that "seven weeks, and 
threescore and two weeks" were to extend to "the 
Messiah the Prince." These sixty-nine weeks stand 
for 483 literal years. Beginning as before at B. c. 
457, they end in A. d. 27.* Of this time we read: — 

" Now when aJl the people were baptized, it came 
to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the 
heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a 
bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came 
from heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son ; in 
Thee 1 am well pleased." Luke 3:21, 22; margin, 
A. D. 27. After this, Jesus came "preaching the gospel 
of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is ful- 
filled." Mark 1:14,15. 

" The time here mentioned must have been some specific, definite, 
and predicted period ; but no prophetic period can be found then 
terminating, except the sixty-nine weeks of the prophecy of Daniel, 
which were to extend to the Messiah the Prince. The Messiah had 
now come ; and with His own lips He announced the termination of 
that period which was to be marked by His manifestation." — "Daniel 
and the Revelation" p. 202. 

" And He shall confirm the covenant with many for 
one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause 
the sacrifice and the oblation to cease/ ' Daniel 9:27. 

*There seems to be a discrepancy of one year in this date. But if 
we should begin with the first day of B. C. 457, and end with the last 
day of A. D. 26, we would have- just 483 years. But as the Jews on 
their return did not reach Jerusalem until the autumn of B. c. 457, 
the time from which this date was taken, the 483 years would carry us 
to a. D. 27, the year in which Jesus was baptized. 

In Luke 3 123 we read that Jesus "began to be about thirty years 
of age" at the time of His baptism. How can this be harmonized 
with the date of a. d. 27, as given above? By a mistake, the date of 
the Christian era did not begin until Jesus was three years of age. 
Hence He was thirty years of age in the year a. d. 27, when He was 
baptized. — See "Hale's Chronology," Vol. I, pp, 8j, 84, 



'the: first angel's message 181 

This was the last week of the seventy, or the last 
seven years of the 490. 

In the midst of the week He was to " cause the sac- 
rifice and the oblation to cease." All the offerings in 
the temple service were typical of Christ, "the Lamb of 
God, slain from the foundation of the world." At His 
death, type met antitype, the real offering for sin was 
made, and the sacrificial services of the temple were of 
no more avail. At the death of Christ an unseen hand 
rent the vail of the temple from top to bottom. 

The " midst of the week " would be three and one- 
half years. In the autumn of A. D. 27, Jesus was 
anointed to His ministry by the descent of the Holy 
Ghost at his baptism. In the spring of A. D. 31, at 
the time of the Passover, just three and one-half years 
after His baptism, He was crucified. 

"And He shall confirm the covenant with many 
for one week." This is the last week of the seventy, 
and the last seven years of the period allotted especially 
to the Jews. It terminated A. D. 34. 

During the first three and one-half years of this 
week, the covenant with Israel had been confirmed by 
the ministry of Jesus Himself. During the last half 
of the week, it was confirmed by the disciples. Their 
instruction had been, " Go not into the way of the Gen- 
tiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; 
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 
Matthew 10 : 5, 6. This instruction was heeded by the 
disciples until A. D. 34. Then the public action of the 
Jews closed the door of the gospel to them as a nation, 
and opened it to the Gentiles. 

' ' At that time, through the action of the Jewish Sanhedrim, the 
nation sealed its rejection of the gospel, by the martrydom of Stephen 



1&2 



THE COMING KING 



and the persecution of the followers of Christ. Then the message of 
salvation, no longer restricted to the chosen people, was given to the 
world. The disciples, forced by persecution to flee from Jerusalem, 
'went everywhere preaching the word.' 'Philip went down to the 
city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.' Peter, divinely 
guided, opened the gospel to the centurian of Ceserea, the Godfearing 
Cornelius ; and the ardent Paul, won to the faith of Christ, was com- 
missioned to carry the glad tidings 'far hence unto the Gentiles.'" — 
" Great Controversy,' 1 '' p. 328. 

The End of the 2300 Days 

" Unto two thousand and three hundred days ; then 
shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Having fixed beyond 
all controversy the dates connected with the seventy 
weeks, it becomes an easy matter to settle the ending of 
the 2300 days. Subtract the seventy weeks, or 490 
years, from 2300, and the remainder will be 18 10. As 
the seventy weeks ended in the autumn of A. D. 34, we 
have only to add 18 10 to 34, which brings us to the 
autumn of 1844, the time emphasized by Mr. Miller 
and others who joined him in giving the first message 
as "the hour of God's judgment." 

A Characteristic Dialogue 

The following dialogue is characteristic of Mr. Mil- 
ler's method of meeting objectors: — 

4 1 Having heard that a physician in his neighborhood had said 
' Esquire Miller,' as he was familiarly called, ' was a fine man and a 
good neighbor, but was a monomaniac on the subject of the advent,' 
Mr. Miller was humorously inclined to let him prescribe for his case. 

" One of his children being sick one day, he sent for the doctor, 
who, after prescribing for the child, noticed that Mr. Miller was very 
mute in one corner, and asked what ailed him. 

" 'Well, I hardly know, doctor. I want you to see what does and 
prescribe for me.' 

' ' The doctor felt of his pulse, and could not decide respect- 
ing his malady ; and inquired what he supposed was his complaint. 

" ' Well,' said Mr. Miller, ' I don't know but I am a monomaniac ■ 



THE FIRST ANGEL'S MESSAGE 



and I want you to examine me, and see if I am ; and if so, cure me. 
Can you tell when a man is a monomaniac ? ' 

" The doctor blushed, and said he thought he could. 

" Mr. Miller wished to know how. 

1 1 1 Why, ' said the doctor, ' a monomaniac is rational on all sub- 
jects but one ; and when you touch that particular subject, he will 
become raving.' 

" ' Well,' said Mr. Miller, c I insist upon it that you see whether I 
am in reality a monomaniac ; and if I am, you shall prescribe for and 
cure me. You shall, therefore, sit down with me two hours, while I 
present the subject of the advent to you, and, if I am a monomaniac, 
by that time you will discover it. ' 

" The doctor was somewhat disconcerted ; but Mr. Miller insisted, 
and told him, as it was to present the state of his mind, he might 
charge for his time as in regular practice. 

"The doctor finally consented; and, at Mr. Miller's request, 
opened the Bible and read from the eighth of Daniel. As he read 
along, Mr. Miller inquired what the ram denoted, with the other sym- 
bols presented. The doctor had read Newton, and applied them to 
Persia, Greece, and Rome, as Mr. Miller did. 

" Mr. Miller then inquired how long the vision of those empires 
was to be. 

" ' 2300 days.' 

' 1 1 What ! ' said Mr. Miller, ' could those great empires cover only 
2300 literal days ? ' 

" 1 Why,' said the doctor, ' those days are years, according to all 
commentators ; and those kingdoms are to continue 2300 years.' 

" Mr. Miller then asked him to turn to the second of Daniel, and 
to the seventh ; all of which he explained the same as Mr. Miller. 
He was then asked if he knew when the 2300 days would end. He 
did not know, as he could not tell when they began. 

"Mr. Miller told him to read the ninth of Daniel. He read down 
till he came to the twenty-first verse, when Daniel saw 'the man 
Gabriel,' whom he had 'seen in the vision.' 

" 1 In what vision? ' Mr. Miller inquired. 

" ' Why,' said the doctor, ' in the vision of the eighth of Daniel.' 
" 'Wherefore, understand the matter and consider the vision.' ' He 
had now come, then, to make him understand that vision, had he?' 
c ' ' Yes, ' said the doctor. 

" ' Well, seventy weeks are determined ; what are these seventy 
weeks a part of ? ' 

" 1 Of the 2300 days.' 

' ' ' Then do they begin with the 2300 days ? ' 



THE COMING KING 



" 1 Yes,' said the doctor. 
" ' When did they end ? ' 
" 'In a. D. 33.' 

" 1 Then how far would the 2300 extend after 33 ? ' 

"The doctor subtracted 490 from 2300, and replied, 1 1810. 
Why,' said he, 1 that is past.' 

" 'But,' said Mr. Miller, 1 there were 1810 from 33 ; in what year 
would that come ? ' 

"The doctor saw at once that the 33 should be added, and set 
down 33 and 1810, and, adding them replied, 1 1843.' 

"At this unexpected result the doctor settled back in his chair 
and colored ; but immediately took his hat and left the house in a 
rage. 

"The next day he again called on Mr. Miller, and looked as 
though he had been in the greatest mental agony. 

"'Why, Mr. Miller,' said he, 'I am going to hell. I have not 
slept a wink since I was here yesterday. I have looked at the ques- 
tion in every light, and the vision must terminate about a. d. 1843 ; 
and I am unprepared, and must go to hell.' 

" Mr. Miller calmed him, and pointed him to the ark of safety ; 
and in about a week, calling each day on Mr. Miller, he found peace 
to his soul, and went on his way rejoicing, as great a monomaniac as 
Mr. Miller. He afterward acknowledged that, till he made the figures 
1843, he had no idea of the result to which he was coming." 

By a reading of this dialogue, it will be seen that at 
first Mr. Miller placed the ending of the 2300 days at 
1843. But i n so doing he failed to notice the shorten- 
ing of the first year, in b. c. 457. He later saw the 
omission, and accepted the change which it brought. 
From that time forward he placed the date in the 
autumn of 1844. (See foot-note on page 179.) 

"In explaining Daniel 8:14, 'Unto two thousand 
and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be 
cleansed/ Mr. Miller adopted the generally received view 
that the earth is the sanctuary, and he believed that the 
cleansing of the sanctuary represented the purification 
of the earth by fire at the coming of the Lord. When, 
therefore, he found that the close of the 2300 days was 
definitely foretold, he concluded that this revealed the 
time of the second advent." 



Altar of Burnt Offering 



Holy Place 



Most Holy Place 



The Sanctuary 

"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be 
cleansed." Daniel 8:14. 

What is the sanctuary, and what is its cleansing? 
When Israel was encamped before Sinai, the Lord said 
to Moses, " Let them make Me a sanctuary ; that 1 
may dwell among them." Exodus 25: 8. 

The apostle Paul, referring to the same time and 
the same religious system, writes, "Then verily the 
first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and 
a worldly sanctuary." Hebrews 9:1. 

This earthly sanctuary is often spoken of as the 
tabernacle, or tent. It was a portable structure, erected 
according to divine instruction. In the days of Solo- 
mon this tabernacle gave place to the beautiful and 
permanent temple at Jerusalem. 

This sanctuary, whether inclosed in the tent built 
in the wilderness of Sinai, or in the temple at Jeru- 
salem, was divided into two apartments, called the 
holy and most holy places. Each apartment had its 
furniture prepared for the special service to be car- 
ried on therein. Regarding this furniture the apostle 
says : — 

" For there was a tabernacle made ; the first [or 

[185] 



1 86 



THE COMING KING 



first apartment], wherein was the candlestick, and the 
table, and the shewbread ; which is called the sanctu- 
ary [margin, the holy]. And after the second veil the 
tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all ; which had 
the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant over- 
laid round about with gold, wherein was the golden 
pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, 
and the tables of the covenant ; and over it the cheru- 
bim of glory shadowing the mercy seat." Hebrews 

All these things were real to the prophet Daniel, 
for he was a Jew of the royal line, and before the cap- 
tivity was familiar with the temple at Jerusalem, its 
furniture, and the service of the sanctuary ; and with 
these he would naturally connect the words of the 
angel, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; 
then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 

"It will be safe for us," as one writer has aptly 
said, " to put ourselves in imagination in the place of 
Daniel, and view the subject from his standpoint. 
What would he understand by the term sanctuary as 
addressed to him?" "His mind would inevitably 
turn, on the mention of that word, to the sanctuary of 
that dispensation ; and certainly he well knew what 
that was. His mind did turn to Jerusalem, the city 
of his fathers, which was then in ruins, and to their 
' beautiful house/ which, as Jeremiah laments, was 
burned with fire. And so, as was his wont, with his 
face turned toward the place of their once venerated 
temple, he prayed God to cause His face to shine 
upon His sanctuary, which was desolate. By the 
word sanctuary Daniel evidently understood their 
temple at Jerusalem." 



The: sanctuary 



187 



It is written of both Jew and Gentile that " all have 
sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 
3:23. It is also true of all that "the wages of sin is 
death." Romans 6: 23. But a Saviour had been prom- 
ised, and the service in this earthly sanctuary had to 
do with the forgiveness of sins. 

"The blood is the life" (Deuteronomy 12:23), and 
the shedding of the blood of the sacrifice signified 
that the sinner was worthy 
of death. Hence the Lord 
said to Israel, "The life of 
the flesh is in the blood: 
and ] have given it to you 
upon the altar to make an 
atonement for your souls: 
for it is the blood that 
maketh an atonement for the 
soul. Therefore 1 said unto 
the children of Israel, No 
soul of you shall eat blood." 
Leviticus 17:11, 12. 

How forceful, then, 
are the words of Paul to 
the Hebrews: "Almost 
all things are by the law purged with blood; and 
without shedding of blood is no remission." Hebrews 
9:22. But since "it is not possible that the blood of 
bulls and of goats should take away sins," the offerings 
in the earthly sanctuary were only typical of the offer- 
ing to be made by Christ, and of His work in the 
heavenly sanctuary. 

During the old dispensation the sinner confessed 
his sins upon the head of the offering, and the sacri- 




The sinner confessed his sins upon the head of 
the offering." 



THE COMING KING 



fice was slain, and some of the blood carried into the 
sanctuary. By this blood, and in some offerings by the 
eating of the flesh by the priests, the sins were in 
a figure transferred from the individual to the sanctu- 
ary. This was an every-day work. Paul says that 
"the priests went always into the first tabernacle [the 
holy place], accomplishing the service of God." He- 
brews 9 : 6. By this daily ministry the sanctuary be- 
came the resting place of the sins of the people, and 
was "defiled" thereby. 

Cleansing the Earthly Sanctuary 

The ministration in the most holy place was per- 
formed only once a year. Aaron was warned not to 
come "at all times into the holy place within the veil 
before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he 
die not." Leviticus 16:2. 

Paul writes that " into the second [the most holy 
place] went the high priest alone once every year, not 
without blood, which he offered for himself, and for 
the errors of the people." Hebrews 9 : 7. 

Upon " the seventh month, on the tenth day of the 
month " the high priest entered into the most holy 
place " to make an atonement for the children of Israel 
for all their sins once a year." L,eviticus 16:29,34. 

Paul says that the earthly sanctuary was " purified " 
by this yearly service. It was " cleansed " from the 
defilement of sin which had been confessed by the 
people throughout the year. By a sin offering, by his 
confession, and by the ministry of the priest, the guilt, 
or sin, of the penitent was transferred from the trans- 
gressor to the sanctuary. Thus, day by day, until 
the last day of the ecclesiastical year, the sins of the 



THE SANCTUARY 



189 



people were carried into the sanctuary, which thus 
became the receptacle of guilt. 

"But this," remarks one writer, u was not the final 
disposition of these sins. The accumulated guilt was 
removed by a special service, which was called the 
cleansing of the sanctuary. This service, in the type, 
occupied one day in the year ; and the tenth day of 
the seventh month, on which it was performed, was 




Confessing Sins upon the Scape-goat The Scape-goat in the Wilderness 



called the day of atonement. On this day, while all 
Israel refrained from work and afflicted their souls, 
the priests brought two goats, and presented them 
before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the 
congregation. On these goats he cast lots ; one lot for 
the Lord, and the other lot for the scape-goat. The 
one upon which the Lord's lot fell, was then slain, 
and his blood was carried by the priest into the most 
holy place of the sanctuary, and sprinkled upon the 




[190] The Sanctuary and Its Cleansing 



THE SANCTUARY 



I 9 I 



mercy seat. And this was the only day on which he 
was permitted to enter into that apartment. 

" Coming forth, he was then to lay both his hands 
upon the head of the scape-goat, confess over him all 
the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their 
transgressions in all their sins, and, thus putting them 
upon his head (Leviticus 16:21), he was to send him 
away by the hand of a fit man into a land not inhab- 
ited, a land of separation, or forge tfulness, the goat 
never again to appear in the camp of Israel, and the 
sins of the people to be remembered against them no 
more. This service was for the purpose of cleansing 
the people from their sins, and cleansing the sanctuary 
and its sacred vessels. See Leviticus 16:30,33. By 
this process, sin was removed, — but only in figure; 
for all that work was typical." 

The Sanctuary in Heaven 

At Sinai the Lord gave Moses the most definite 
and minute instruction as to the construction of the 
earthly sanctuary or tabernacle. "According to aJl that 
] show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the 
pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye 
make it." Exodus 25:9. It was to be as nearly a 
reproduction of the heavenly sanctuary as the cir- 
cumstances of earth and the conditions under which 
it was to be used would allow. Paul says that the 
earthly sanctuary and its ministration were "the pat- 
terns of things in the heavens." Hebrews 9: 23. 

In prophetic vision John saw this heavenly sanctu- 
ary : " ] looked, and, behold, the temple of the 
tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened." 
And again, "The temple of God was opened in heaven, 



192 



THE COMING KING 



and there was seen in His temple the ark of His tes- 
tament." Revelation 15 : 5 ; 11:19. And Paul speaks 
of it as "the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, 
and not man," and as "a greater and more perfect 
tabernacle." Hebrews 8:2; 9:11. 

The priests of the earthly tabernacle served only 
"unto the example and shadow of heavenly things." Of 
Christ as Priest of the new dispensation, Paul writes: 
"We have such an High Priest, who is set on the 
right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens ; 
a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, 
which the Lord pitched, and not man." Hebrews 
8:5, 1,2. 

In the old dispensation of types and shadows the 
blood of animals was shed in atonement for sin. Of 
the new dispensation we read that " every high priest 
is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices : wherefore it is 
of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer." 
Hebrews 8 : 3. This offering was His own blood, for 
we read : — 

"But Christ being come an High Priest of good 
things to come, by a greater and more perfect taber- 
nacle [the temple in heaven], not made with hands, 
that is to say, not of this building; neither by the 
blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He 
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained 
eternal redemption for us," Hebrews 9: 11, 12. 

The ministry in the heavenly sanctuary did not 
begin until Christ came and in Himself provided 
an offering. Paul explains that "the way into the 
holiest of all was not made manifest, while as the 
first tabernacle was yet standing: which was a figure 
for the time then present, in which were offered both 



THK SANCTUARY 



193 



gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did 
the service perfect." Hebrews 9 : 8, 9. 

While the service in the earthly sanctuary cleansed 
the sinner typically, relying upon the ratification by 
the coming sacrifice, "the Lamb of God," Paul 
asserts that " much more shall the blood of Christ, 
who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself with- 
out spot to God, purge your conscience from dead 
works to serve the living God." Hebrews 9 : 14. 

At the death of Christ the service of the earthly 
sanctuary ceased to avail for sin, in testimony of which 
the veil of the temple was rent in twain. When He 
ascended to His Father the service in the temple in 
heaven began, with Christ as both Priest and Sacrifice. 
Upon this subject Paul writes: — 

" And they truly were many priests, because they 
were not suffered to continue by reason of death : but 
this Man, because He continueth ever, hath an un- 
changeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to 
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by 
Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for 
them. For such an High Priest became us, who is 
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and 
made higher than the heavens ; who needeth not daily, 
as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for 
His own sins, and then for the people's: for this He 
did once, when He offered up Himself." Hebrews 
7:23-27. 

Cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary 

By confession, through all the years of Christ's min- 
istration, the sins of God's people have been transferred 
to the sanctuary above. Of every sin and every re- 
pentance a faithful record has been kept "in the 
13 



194 



THE COMING KING 



books " of heaven. In this sense the heavenly sanctu- 
ary is " defiled " and must at some time be cleansed' 
as was done once a year in type in the earthly 
sanctuary. This final "cleansing" is a thorough in- 
vestigation of the life-work of all who have ever 
started in the service of God. It is a work of judg- 
ment. It is to decide who have been faithful to their 
profession, and are worthy of the final great reward. 

"In the typical system," says Uriah Smith, — 
"which was a shadow of the sacrifice and priesthood 
of Christ, — the cleansing of the sanctuary was the last 
service performed by the high priest in the yearly 
round of ministration. It was the closing work of the 
atonement, — a removal or putting away of sin from 
Israel. It prefigured the closing work of the ministra- 
tion of our High Priest in heaven, in the removal or 
blotting out of the sins of His people, which are reg- 
istered in the heavenly records. This service involves 
a work of investigation, a work of judgment; and it 
immediately- precedes the coming of Christ in the 
clouds of heaven with power and great glory ; for 
when He comes, every case has been decided. Says 
Jesus, 'My reward is with Me, to give every man 
according as his work shall be/ Revelation 22:12. It 
is this work of judgment, immediately preceding the 
second advent, that is announced in the first angel's 
message of Revelation 14 : 7 : ' Fear God, and give 
glory to Him ; for the hour of His judgment is come.' " 

In the earthly, typical ministration, the work of 
cleansing the sanctuary was performed once a year. 
In the antitypical service Christ our High Priest enters 
"once for all." This is the important work intro- 
duced in our text, "Unto two thousand and three 



THE SANCTUARY 



195 



hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 

The date at which this period begins is considered 
in the previous chapter, which places its close in the 
autumn of 1844. From the evidences presented it is 
plain that the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven, 
which is the investigative judgment, began at that 
time. It was then our Saviour entered upon His 
ministration in the most holy place of the sanctuary 
above. It is the beginning of the end. Its investi- 
gations will continue until the case of every indi- 
vidual is settled for time and for eternity. 

To adopt the admirable statement of "Thoughts 
on Daniel and the Revelation," our position is that 
" one year's round of service in the earthly sanctuary 
represented the entire work of the sanctuary above. 
In the type, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the 
brief closing work of the year's service. In the anti- 
type, the cleansing of the sanctuary must be the closing 
work of Christ, our great High Priest, in the taber- 
nacle on high. In the type, to cleanse the sanctuary, 
the high priest entered into the most holy place to 
minister in the presence of God before the ark of His 
testament. In the antitype, when the time comes for 
the cleansing of the sanctuary, our High Priest, in like 
manner, enters into the most holy place to make a 
final end of His intercessory work in behalf of man- 
kind. We confidently affirm that no other conclusion 
can be arrived at on this subject without doing despite 
to the unequivocal testimony of God's word." 

The Disappointment of 1844 

To those who are looking for the soon coming of 
our Lord, the disappointment of Wm. Miller and those 



196 



THE COMING KING 



who, with him, expected Christ to come in 1844, is a 
subject of considerable interest. 

It is evident that God's hand covered some feature 
of the sanctuary question, and behind that hand they 
could not penetrate. Some link in their chain of 
reasoning was defective. But of this they were cer- 
tain, — the time had passed, and their Lord had not 
come as expected. 

Again and again the leaders in this movement 
went over the prophecies in their endeavor to discover 
some error in the computation of the time. But no 
inaccuracy could be found, and the date could not be 
changed. Nor were they alone in their interpretation 
of the time feature of the prophecies. Others agreed 
with them in this respect, but had various theories 
as to the nature of the event. 

Dr. Geo. Bush, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental 
Literature in the New York City University, in a let- 
ter addressed to Mr. Miller, and published in the 
Advent Herald for March, 1844, says: — 

"Neither is it to be objected, as I conceive, to yourself or your 
friends, that you have devoted much time and attention to the study 
of the chronology of prophecy, and have labored much to determine 
the commencing and closing dates of its great periods. If these pe- 
riods are actually given by the Holy Ghost in the prophetic books, it 
was doubtless with the design that they should be studied, and prob- 
ably in the end, fully understood ; and no man is to be charged with 
presumptuous folly who reverently makes the attempt to do this. . . . 
In taking a day as the prophetic term for a year, I believe you are sus- 
tained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the high 
names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Kirby, Scott, 
Keith, and a host of others, who have long since come to sub- 
stantially your conclusions on this head. They all agree that the 
leading periods mentioned by Daniel and John do actually expire 
about this age of the world, and it would be a strange logic that would 
convict you of heresy for holding in effect the same views which 
stand forth so prominently in the notices of these eminent divines." 



THE SANCTUARY 



197 



' ' Your results in this field of inquiry qo not strike me as so far out of 
the way as to effect any of the great interests of truth and duty." 
"Your error, as I apprehend, lies in another direction than your 
chronology. " " You have entirely mistaken the nature of the events 
which are to occur when those periods have expired. This is the head 
and front of your expository offending. . . . The great event before 
the world is not its physical conflagration, but its moral regeneration. 
Although there is doubtless a sense in which Christ may be said to 
come in connection with the passing away of the fourth empire of the 
Ottoman power, and His kingdom to be illustriously established, yet 
that will be found to be a spiritual coming in the power of the gospel, 
in the ample outpouring of His Spirit, and the glorious administration 
of His providence." 

The doctrine of a temporal millennium as advo- 
cated by Dr. Bush, was considered a harmful delusion 
by Mr. Miller, and as such was strenuously opposed by 
him. Both men were correct in their dates, and both 
were mistaken in the event. Christ did not appear 
in the clouds of heaven in 1844, neither was the 
" moral regeneration " of the earth, as anticipated by 
Dr. Bush, ushered in at that time, for constantly since 
then have "evil men and seducers waxed worse and 
worse, deceiving, and being deceived." 

The grievous disappointment of the Adventists in 
1844 does not militate against the genuineness of the 
message they "had borne. There is sometimes victory 
in defeat. No people ever suffered a more crushing 
disappointment than did the disciples at the crucifix- 
ion of Christ. They expected Him to take the throne 
of David, when in fact He stood in the very shadow 
of the cross. By His crucifixion their hopes were 
dashed to earth. Yet after His resurrection they dis- 
covered that His death was the crowning victory and 
glory of His mission. It was essential to the whole 
plan of salvation. 

Earnest, God-fearing men, airected by the Holy 



igS 



THE COMING KING 



Spirit, proclaimed the message of 1844. I n the light 
of their disappointment earnest believers sought care- 
fully for their error in the interpretation of the proph- 
ecies. In their researches they were led to see that 
the sanctuary to be cleansed was not the earth as 
they had supposed, but was "the true tabernacle" in 
heaven, " which the Lord pitched, and not man," with 
Jesus Christ our Mediator as High Priest. 

It then became plain that the cleansing of the 
sanctuary was not the purifying of the earth, but 
the investigative judgment of which the yearly day of 
atonement in the earthly sanctuary was a type. 

They also found that the ark of the Most Holy place 
was the receptacle of the " tables of the testimony," the 
law of God. Directing their study to this law, they 
found that the Bible taught clearly that the law is im- 
mutable, changeless, and perpetual in its obligations. 
Thus their very disappointment resulted in throwing a 
flood of light on Scriptures not previously understood. 

But let none harbor the thought that the Advent 
movement of 1844 was * ne work of a few irresponsible 
fanatics. On the contrary it was a movement which 
stirred the world. It was symbolized by an angel flying 
in the midst of heaven "having the everlasting gospel 
to preach," and proclaiming, " Fear God, and give glory 
to Him ; for the hour of His judgment is come." It 
embraced in its promulgation some of the brightest 
minds of the age. In England and America, often in 
the most conservative churches, there were more than 
one thousand ministers enlisted in the proclamation of 
"this gospel of the kingdom," and the Spirit of God 
gave witness to the word spoken by them. 




'And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great 
city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath 
of her fornication." Revelation 14:8. 



This message closely follows that of the first angel 
of this series of three, but does not displace it. The 
work of the first angel continues during the sounding 
of the second angel. In like manner the first and sec- 
ond continue their work through the sounding of the 
third, thus forming a great three-fold message. 

When Christ came to earth, He, by His teaching, 
swept away the darkness and blindness of the religious 
system of His day, and brought to light "the mys- 
tery of the kingdom of God." Mark 4:11. See also, 
Romans 16:25; Hphesians 4:9, 10; 1 Timothy 3:10; 
Colossians 1 : 27. 

But only twenty-three years after the crucifixion, 
Paul saw an evil coming into the church which he 
denominates "the mystery of iniquity." He says: — 

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that 
day [the second coming of Christ] shall not come, ex- 
cept there come a falling away first, and that man of 
sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth 

[ r 99] 



200 



THE COMING KING 



and cxalteth himself above all that is called God, or 
that is worshipped: so that he as God sitteth in the 
temple of God, showing himself that he is God. . . . 
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might 
be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity 
doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek, 
restrains] will Jet, until he be taken out of the way." 
2 Thessalonians 2:3-7. 

These words can refer only to the great apostasy 
which, beginning in the days of the apostles, came 
into full swing in the fourth century. By this apos- 
tasy the religion of Christ was perverted, and the 
"mystery of godliness" was, during the centuries of 
the Dark Ages, hidden under the pall of the "mys- 
tery of iniquity." 

As a result of this "falling away" from the pure 
gospel, pagan forms, observances, and doctrines were 
brought into the church, thus combining Christianity 
and paganism, the result being a confused, mongrel 
system of religion, Christian in name, but pagan in 
its nature. As a further result pride and ostentation 
took the place of the simplicity of early Christianity, 
and little true godliness was found in the church. 
The word of God was, so far as possible, withheld 
from the people, being taken away from such as pos- 
sessed even portions of it, and dignitaries of the church 
impiously assumed the authority and prerogatives of 
God. 

This apostate church is symbolized in the Revela- 
tion by a fallen, impure woman. Of her we read, 
"And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, 
Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abomina- 
tions of the earth." Revelation 17:5. 



THE SECOND ANGEL'S MESSAGE 201 

The word Babylon signifies confusion and is de- 
rived from "Babel; because the Lord did there con- 
found the language of all the earth: and from thence 
did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all 
the earth." Genesis 11:9. 

If this church which had departed from God was 
"Babylon, . . . the mother," who are the harlot 
daughters? But one answer can be given: They 
must be professed churches of Christ which hold to 
the errors of their Babylonish "mother." They in 
turn become "Babylon" when they reject the advanc- 
ing light of God's word. 

During and after the Reformation the bodies which 
came out of the "mother" church, not at first seeing 
the light which God had for them, brought into 
their creeds many errors from the black pool of dark- 
ness from which they had sprung. 

As time passed godly men saw some of these 
errors, and stepped out into new light as it was re- 
vealed to them. Then a new denomination would be 
formed, and, unfortunately, a new creed would be 
made. Few are the instances where a denomination 
has advanced beyond its creed. Hence, new light 
meant a new denomination, and then, again, a new 
creed. And so the work of reformation resulted in 
the formation of the many denominations which con- 
stitute the churches of to-day. How aptly does the 
term "Babylon" apply to such a mixed multitude. 

But the time came when God would call out a 
people which should be especially His, and to which 
He could reveal, point by point, all His precious 
truths, unfettered by creeds, and which would lead 
back, step by step, to the old paths, and reinstate in 



202 



THE COMING KING 



its completeness the "mystery of godliness," which 
had been so long obscured. 

This was the mission of the first angel's message 
of Revelation 14:6, which proclaimed the "everlasting 
gospel." This is the gospel of the ages, stripped of 
all the combined errors of heathenism and a false 
Christianity. It is to fit a people for the second com- 
ing of Christ. It is to prepare a people for translation 
when He shall come. 

Those who sounded the first message did not seek 
to found a new church, or promulgate a new creed. 
They labored for all churches alike, and sought to 
awaken the people by preaching a pure gospel. Upon 
this point William Miller himself wrote: — 

1 ' In my labors I never had the desire or thought to establish any 
separate interest from that of existing denominations, or to benefit one 
at the expense of another. I thought to benefit all. Supposing that 
all Christians would rejoice in the prospect of Christ's coming, and 
that those who could not see as I did would not love any the less those 
who should embrace this doctrine, I did not conceive there would ever 
be any necessity for separate meetings. My whole object was a desire 
to convert souls to God, to notify the world of a coming judgment, 
and to induce my fellow-men to make that preparation of heart which 
will enable them to meet their God in peace. The great majority of 
those who were converted under my labors united with the various 
existing churches." 

"As his work tended to build up the churches," writes one who 
participated in this movement, ' 'it was for a time regarded with favor. 
But as ministers and religious leaders decided against the Advent doc- 
trine, and desired to suppress all agitation of the subject, they not 
only opposed it from the pulpit, but denied their members the privi- 
ledge of attending preaching upon the second advent, or even of speak- 
ing of their hope in the social meetings of the church. Thus the 
believers found themselves in a position of great trial and perplexity. 
They loved their churches, and were loth to separate from them ; but 
as they saw the testimony of God's word suppressed, and their right 
to investigate the prophecies denied, they felt that loyalty to God for- 
bade them to submit. Those who sought to shut out the testimony of 



THK SECOND ANGEL'S MESSAGE 203 



God's word they could not regard as constituting the church of Christ, 
' the pillar and ground of the truth.' Hence they felt themselves justi- 
fied in separating from their former connection." 

During the proclamation of the ' first message great 
light had gone to the world. The "everlasting gos- 
pel " had been preached with power. Those who were 
earnest and sincere were reached by this message. 
" Pride and conformity to the world were swept away; 
wrongs were made right; hearts were united in the 
sweetest fellowship ; and love and joy reigned supreme. 
If the doctrine did this for the few who did receive 
it, it would have done the same for all if all had re- 
ceived it." 

Of our Saviour's mission He said, "]f ] had not 
come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: 
but now they have no cloak for their sin." John 
15:22. 

To those not spiritually blind the beneficial results 
of the message of 1 840-1 844 could be seen in the 
churches wherever it was proclaimed. But the lead- 
ers soon rejected the light and turned from it. When 
a person deliberately turns from the light, a loss of 
spirituality — a moral fall — must follow. And, as in 
the days of our Saviour, those who did this "had no 
cloak for their sin." 

"About this time," writes one who was acquainted 
with the religious conditions of that period, "a marked 
change was apparent in most of the churches through- 
out the United States. There had been for many 
years a gradual but steadily increasing conformity to 
worldly practices and customs, and a corresponding 
decline in real spiritual life ; but in that year [1844] 
there were evidences of a sudden and marked declen- 
sion in nearly all the churches of the land." 



204 



THE COMING KING 



There were godly men who at that time held 
their membership in the churches of all denominations - 
who felt keenly the rapid lowering spiritual vitality 
among professed Christians, and sounded vigorously 
the alarm. Mr. Barnes, author of the widely used 
commentary which bears his name, in a meeting of 
the presbytery of Philadelphia, was reported as say- 
ing:— 

"There are no awakenings, no conversions, not much apparent 
growth in grace in professors, and none come to my study to converse 
about the salvation of their souls. With the increase of business, and 
the brightening prospects of commerce and manufactures, there is an 
increase of worldly-mindedness. Thus ii is with all denominations. " 

In the month of February of the same year, Professor Finney, of 
Oberlin College, said: "We have had the facts before our minds, 
that, in general, the Protestant churches of our country, as such, were 
apathetic or hostile to nearly all the moral reforms of the age. There 
are partial exceptions, }-et not enough to render the fact otherwise 
than general. We have also another corroborative fact, — the almost 
universal absence of revival influence in the churches. The spiritual 
apathy is almost all-pervading, and is fearfully deep ; so the religious 
press of the whole land testifies. Very extensively, church-members 
are becoming devotees of fashion, joining hands with the ungodly in 
parties of pleasure, in dancing, in festivities, etc. But we need not 
expand this painful subject. Suffice it that the evidence thickens and 
rolls heavily upon us, to show that the churches generally are becom- 
ing sadly degenerate . They have gone very far from the Lord, and 
He has withdrawn Himself from them." 

" We have never witnessed," said a writer in the Religious Tele- 
scope, "such a general declension as at present. Truly, the church 
should awake, and search into the cause of this affliction ; for affliction 
everyone that loves Zion must view it. When we call to mind how few 
and far between cases of true conversion are, and the almost unparal- 
leled impenitence and hardness of sinners, we almost involuntarily 
exclaim, 1 Has God forgotten to be gracious? or is the door of mercy 
closed?'" 

While many who deplored the lack of godliness 
in the churches did not understand the cause, it was 



THE SECOND ANGEL'S MESSAGE 205 

apparent to those wno had taken their stand for the 
truth. Hence, in all parts of the land they raised 
the cry of the second angel's message, "Babylon is 
fallen." Those who rejected the light sustained a 
spiritual fall. Those who accepted the demands of 
the message, soon connected with it the movement 
brought to view in Revelation 18:1-4, and sounded 
the call, "Come out of her, My people." As a re- 
sult "about fifty thousand severed their connection 
with the denominations where they were not allowed 
to hold and proclaim their views in peace." Babylon 
had fallen. 

Like causes produce like results, and to-day though 
a new generation is upon the stage of action, Baby- 
lon, both mother and daughters, still clings to her 
errors, and the frown of God still rests upon her. It 
is true there are found in the various churches many 
who are truly pious and who deplore the low spirit- 
ual condition ; but as a whole Babylon is unchanged ; 
and shorn of a large part of the spiritual power that 
once was hers notwithstanding her errors, we see her 
tending more and more toward the world, and exem- 
plifying less and less the spirit and fruits of true re- 
ligion. 

The Lord "would have healed Babylon, but she is 
not healed." Jeremiah 51:9. And erelong, under the 
closing work of the three angels, when they shall be 
joined by "another angel" "having great power," the 
message will again go forth in still greater power 
than in 1844, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen." 
"Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par- 
takers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her 
plagues." See Revelation 18:1-4. 




The Third Angel's Message 



" And the third angel followed them, saying with 
a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his 
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his 
hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of 
God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup 
of His indignation ; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence 
of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb : and the smoke of their torment 
ascendeth up for ever and ever : and they have no rest day nor night, who worship 
the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is 
the patience of the saints : here are they that keep the commandments of God, and 
the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14 : 9-12. 



"The third angel followed them." That is, he 
follows the angels of verses six and eight. This is 
the last of the series of three messages given in this 
chapter. From this time forward to the close of pro- 
bation these three messages blend in a last warning 
to the world of the great final crisis which is so near 
at hand. When these three angels shall cease their 
work, probation ends, and the angels brought to view 
in chapter sixteen begin to pour out the seven last 
plagues upon an impenitent and doomed world. 

The message of the third angel embraces three dis- 
tinct features: — 

First, a warning against turning from the true God 
to the worship of a specious counterfeit, called the beast, 
and of an image, or likeness of the beast. 

Secondly, is recorded the terrible punishment that 
[206] 



THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE 2QJ 



will be meted out to those who, notwithstanding the 
warning, do worship the beast and his image. 

Thirdly, a company is pointed out who reject this 
false worship and remain loyal to God. 

The rise of this beast and its evil work are thus 




described in Revelation 13:1-8: "And 1 stood upon 
the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of 
the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon 
his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of 
blasphemy. . . . And there was given unto him a mouth 
speaking great things and blasphemies. . . . And he 
opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blas- 
pheme His name. . . . And it was given unto him to 
make war with the saints, and to overcome them : and 
power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, 
and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall 



2o8 



THE COMING KING 



worship him, whose names are not written in the 
book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of 
the world." 

In prophecy the seas, or waters, are used as symbols 
of peoples and nations of the earth. See Revelation 
17:15. A beast represents a worldly power or king- 
dom. See Daniel 7. Usually a political, or civil power 
is thus symbolized, but sometimes a beast represents a 
power both civil and religious, or a government in 
which church and state are united. 

The beast of our text must symbolize a power in 
which the religious element predominates. It binds 
upon its followers a system of worship contrary to God's 
commands, for the wrath of God and awful punishments 
are pronounced against those who participate in that 
worship. 

In all the Bible there is but one power brought to 
view which can meet the foregoing specifications. It is 
the power which had its rise in the apostasy of the 
early centuries.* It is papal Rome, — the embodiment 
of the "mystery of iniquity" referred to by Paul in 
2 Thessalonians 2:7. It is " MYSTERY, BABYLON 
THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS 
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" de- 
scribed by John in Revelation 17:5. 

This power assumes the authority to forgive sins, 
and claims for its head the names and attributes of 
deity. These prerogatives God has reserved to Him- 
self, and their assumption by any man or people is 
the acme of blasphemy. 

Rome, under its papal phase, became also the most 
relentless persecutor of the faithful followers of Jesus 

*See chapter, " Great Tribulation," pp. 116-118 of this book. 



THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE 20g 

that the world has ever known. The blood of over 
fifty millions of martyrs witnesses to this fact. 

And John tells us that all the world, except the 
few who remain true to God, shall yet bow in worship 
before this power.* 

The Image of the Beast 

An image is a similitude or likeness of some origi- 
nal after which it is modeled. An image of the papal 
beast must be a body composed of, or derived from, 
other professedly religious organizations which hold to 
distinguishing errors promulgated by the system desig- 
nated as the beast. In fact, the image does practically 
the same evil things done by the beast of which it is 
a likeness. 

The beast of the third angel's message is the same 
as Babylon of Revelation 17:5, the fallen daughters 
of whom, bearing the same family name, and doing a 
similar work, are brought to view in the second angel's 
message of Revelation 14:8. Both these scriptures 
refer to the same great apostasy. 

When the second angel proclaimed his message the 
various churches of Christendom were closely identified 
with Babylon, all holding errors derived from the 
"mother church." When the light of that message 
was rejected, those churches became the fallen, harlot 
daughters of their Babylonian mother. Having thus 
fallen they become more and more like their mother, 
until by an unholy alliance with the civil power they 
develop an image, or likeness of the beast against the 
worship of which the third angel utters his solemn 
and awful warning : — 

*See chapter, "The Second Angel's Message," pp. 198, 199 of 
this book. 

14 



2IO 



THE COMING KING 



"If any man worship the beast and his image, and 
receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the 
same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, 
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of 
His indignation/' Revelation 14:9, 10. Fearful the 
fate of him who allows himself to be led into error 
by this deceitful power. 

A Company Tried and True 

The attention of John is then called to another 
company whose members have not joined in the great 
apostasy of Babylon. Of them he says, "Here is the 
patience of the saints: here are they that keep the 
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Reve- 
lation 14 : 12. 

This company did not share in the moral fall of 
Babylon as announced in the second angel's message, 
and as repeated in Revelation 18:2. The announce- 
ment made in this text is followed by a "voice from 
heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye 
be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not 
of her plagues." Vs. 4.* 

The feature which distinguishes and separates this 
people from Babylon is evidently " the commandments 
of God." These they hold in reverence and obey, 
while others regard them lightly and openly trample 
upon them. The inference of the text is plain ; Baby- 
lon has rejected the law of God, by rejecting some of 
its precepts. "For whosoever shall keep the whole 

*For an explanation of the moral and spiritual fall which did 
take place at, and subsequent to, the message of the second angel, see 
references in chapters of this book, "The Second Angel's Message," 
pp. 202-204, and, "Iniquity Shall Abound," pp. 140-147. 



The third angel's message 211 

law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." 

James 2 : 10. 

It is a lamentable fact that the binding claims of 
God's law, as recorded in the twentieth chapter of 
Exodus, are being held more and more lightly as the 
years go by. This is true 
not only of the rank and 
file of professed Christians, 
but of ministers, and even 
more forcibly of instructors 
in the schools of theology. 
Thus open and defiant re- 
bellion against God is the 
answer by the professed 
Christianity of to-day to 
the message of the second 
angel of Revelation 14:8, 
—"Babylon is fallen." 
And Babylon sinks lower 
and still lower continually 
until in the language of 
Revelation 18:2, she becomes "the habitation of devils, 
and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every 
unclean and hateful bird." And with mighty power and 
with telling effect the message is repeated, "Come out 
of her, my people." 

Christ or the Law,==Which Must Yield? 

From the standpoint of the sinner, when Adam 
fell two ways were open for the salvation of the 
race. Hither God's law must be amended to meet the 
changed condition of man, or One who is equal with 
the Author of law must bear the guilt of man's trans- 




^oTfi? Aea&en ana 7 ear/A 
pass, one jot or one iiiiie 
shall? in no wise passes 
. from ihe faia"*MaMea> s:/& 



212 



THE COMING KING 



gression and thus open a way of escape to the peni- 
tent sinner. 

The first proposition was not possible, for God can- 
not deny Himself. The principles of His law are as 
broad as the universe and as unchangable as the 
Creator Himself. God was right, and His law was 
right. God could not change ; He says, " ] am the 
Lord, I change not/' Malachi 3 : 6. Neither could 
He change His law without stultifying Himself and 
destroying the principles of His own government. 
Such a change would be to bring evil into the whole 
universe which He had created. To cut off every 
possibility of such a thought He states plainly, "My 
covenant will 1 not break, nor alter the thing that has 
gone out of My lips." Psalms 89 : 34.* 

God's " covenant " is His law. This application is 
made plain in the account of the giving of the law 
on Sinai : "And He wrote upon the tables the words 
of the covenant, the ten commandments." Kxodus 
34:28. And again, "He declared unto you His cove= 
nant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten 
commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables 
of stone." Deuteronomy 4: 13. 

The Ruler of the universe is very jealous for His 
law. It represents His government. David recognized 
this when He wrote, " Thou hast magnified Thy word 
above all Thy name." Psalms 138:2. 

In all the creation of God but one being beside 
Himself bears the name of God, and that is His Son, 

* While the covenant here introduced may refer in its restricted 
sense to the covenant made with David, yet the statement is true in a 
broader sense of the covenant of God's law which He makes the 
foundation of every other covenant or promise. 



THK THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE 213 



Jesus Christ. As God's word, or law, could not be 
changed, Christ, taking the place of sinful man, must 
suffer in order to save him from the penalty of sin. 
Thus the alternative was met squarely. God could 
not change His law ; man must be saved ; hence the 




Mt. Sinai. "He declared unto you His covenant." 



death of Christ. If any other way could have been pro- 
vided, Infinite Wisdom would have searched it out. In 
the death of Christ, God's law was vindicated, and a 
way of escape was opened for mankind. 

But notwithstanding the death of Christ in vindi- 
cation of the divine law, from the pulpit, from the 
rostrums of theological schools, and in the columns of 
religious papers it is taught that the Old Testament 
is obsolete, and God's law abolished ! 



214 



THE COMING KING 



And yet, thirty-five years this side the crucifixion, 
Paul writes to Timothy, " From a child thou hast 
known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make 
thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in 
Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the 
man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto 
all good works." 2 Timothy 3:15-17. 

It will be remembered that the New Testament 
was not written in the days when Timothy was a 
student. All the Scripture which he had to study was 
the Old Testament. Yet Paul tells this young min- 
ister that what he had studied embraced all the 
elements necessary to furnish him " unto all good 
works." The Old Testament contains all the truths 
of the gospel. The New Testament elaborates and 
makes clearer these truths, and presents an actual 
dead, risen, and living Saviour as foretold by the proph- 
ets of the Old Testament. We thank God for the Old 
Testament ; we thank Him for the New Testament ; we 
thank Him for a whole, complete, harmonious Bible. 

Of those who would discredit and destroy the di- 
vine law, David wrote, " It is time for Thee, Lord, to 
work; for they have made void Thy law." Psalms 
119 : 126. 

And our Saviour, in His sermon on the mount, 
speaking of the unchanging nature of that law, says, 
" Think not that 1 am come to destroy the law, or 
the prophets : ] am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 
For verily 1 say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, 
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the 
law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5:17, 18. 



THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE 21 5 



Again Paul in his argument to the Romans upon 
the binding claims of the law, sums up with the state- 
ment, "Wherefore the law is holy, and the command- 
ment holy, and just, and good." Romans 7:12. 

The following quotation from "Great Controversy," 
pp. 583, 584, vividly portrays the condition of this 
world as it rejects the law of God: — 

"In rejecting the truth, men reject its Author. In trampling 
upon the law of God, they deny the authority of the Lawgiver. It is 
as easy to make an idol of false doctrines and theories as to fashion 
an idol of wood or stone. By misrepresenting the attributes of God, 
Satan leads men to conceive of Him in a false character. With many, 
a philosophical idol is enthroned in the place of Jehovah ; while the 
living God, as He is revealed in His word, in Christ, and in the 
works of creation, is worshiped by but few. 

"Thousands deify nature, while they deny the God of nature. 
Though in a different form, idolatry exists in the Christian world to- 
day as verily as it existed among ancient Israel in the days of Elijah. 
The god of many professedly wise men, of philosophers, poets, politi- 
cians, journalists, — the god of polished fashionable circles, of many 
colleges and universities, even of some theological institutions, — is 
little better than Baal, the sun-god of Phenicia. 

" No error accepted by the Christian world strikes more boldly 
against the authority of heaven, none is more directly opposed to the 
dictates of reason, none is more pernicious in its results, than the 
modern doctrine, so rapidly gaining ground, that God's law is no 
longer binding upon men. Every nation has its laws, which com- 
mand respect and obedience ; no government could exist without 
them ; and can it be conceived that the Creator of the heavens and 
the earth has no law to govern the beings He has made ? 

" Suppose that prominent ministers were publicly to teach that 
the statutes which govern their land and protect the rights of its citi- 
zens were not obligatory, — that they restricted the liberties of the 
people, and therefore ought not to be obeyed ; how long would such 
men be tolerated in the pulpit ? But is it a graver offense to disregard 
the laws of States and nations than to trample upon those divine pre- 
cepts which are the foundation of all government ? 

" It would be far more consistent for nations to abolish their stat- 
utes, and permit the people to do as they please, than for the Ruler of 
the universe to annul His law, and leave the world without a standard 



2l6 



THE COMING KING 



to condemn the guilty or justify the obedient. Would we know the 
result of making void the law of God? The experiment has been 
tried. Terrible were the scenes enacted in France when atheism be- 
came the controlling power. It was then demonstrated to the world 
that to throw off the restraints which God has imposed is to accept 
the rule of the crudest of tyrants. When the standard of righteous- 
ness is set aside, the way is open for the prince of evil to establish his 
power in the earth." 

The Punishment of Law=Breakers 

When Christ comes He will vindicate the law, and 
terribly punish its enemies. The third angel declares 
that they "shall be tormented with fire and brimstone." 

Of their punishment the prophet Isaiah writes, " For 
the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and 
His fury upon all their armies : He hath utterly de- 
stroyed them, He hath delivered them to the slaugh- 
ter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink 
shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains 
shall be melted with their blood. . . . 

" For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and 
the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. 
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, 
and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land 
thereof shall become burning pitch." Isaiah 34 : 2-9. 

In Revelation 18 John recounts the sins of modern 
Babylon, her final doom : — "Therefore shall her plagues 
come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine ; and 
she shall be utterly burned with fire : for strong is the 
Lord God who judgeth her." Vs. 8. 

Why this awful destruction? "They have trans- 
gressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the 
everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse de- 
voured the earth, and they that dwell therein are deso- 
late: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned." 
Isaiah 24 : 5, 6. 



SABBATH REST 

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Exodus 20:8. 

Earnest warnings are given in Isaiah 58. To the 
watchmen God says, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy 
voice like a trumpet, and show My people their trans- 
gressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they 
seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation 
that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinances 
of their God." They fast for "strife and debate,' ' and 
"smite with the fist of wickedness." See vss. 2-4. But 
God calls them to repentance. 

"And they that shall be of thee." From those so 
sternly reproved a company of different tendencies will 
be developed. They "shall build the old waste places," 
they shall "raise up the foundations of many genera- 
tions," and shall be called, "The repairers of the 
breach, The restorers of paths to dwell in." Vs. 12. 

What "paths" will they "restore"? What "breach" 
will they "repair"? What "foundations" that have 
lain unimproved for "many generations" will they 

[217] 



2l8 



COMING KING 



"raise up"? These questions are answered in the fol- 
lowing verses : — 

" If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, 
from doing thy pleasure on My holy day ; and call the 
Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; 
and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor 
finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own 
words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; 
and 1 will cause thee to ride upon the high places of 
the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy 
father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
Vss. 13, 14. 

The lessons of this chapter are plain. In verses 
1-7 a class of professed followers of God is intro- 
duced, but they have forsaken the ordinance of their 
God, and their religion is largely a man-made form. 
Of them this same prophet writes, "They have trans- 
gressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the 
everlasting covenant." Isaiah 24 : 5. 

What ordinance of God's law has been so treated? 
Chapter 58 : 13, shows plainly that it is the Sabbath 
commandment. This Sabbath was instituted at crea- 
tion to commemorate that great work : — 

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and 
all the host of them. And on the seventh day God 
ended His work which He had made; and He rested on 
the seventh day from all His work which He had 
made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sancti- 
fied it: because that in it He had rested from all His 
work which God created and made." Genesis 2 : 1-3. 
To sanctify is to set apart to a holy or religious use. 

And when the great moral law of ten command- 
ments was given at Sinai, the Sabbath of the Lord 
was made the heart of that law. 



SABBATH REST 



219 



"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six 
days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the 
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in 
it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor 
thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, 
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy 
gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, 
the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh 
day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and 
hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11. 

But we now see almost the whole Christian world 
observing the first day of the week instead of the sev- 
enth — the Sabbath of Jehovah. They certainly have 
forsaken the Sabbath "ordinance," or, as expressed in 
Isaiah 24:5, "changed the ordinance, broken the ever- 
lasting covenant." 

But a people will arise who shall "build the old 
waste places," and "raise up the foundations of many 
generations.' 1 There will be a company that will re- 
spect the law of God, and honor His Sabbath. 

For nearly fourteen centuries ("many generations") 
has Papal Rome pressed its counterfeit Sabbath upon the 
world, presenting it as the badge of its authority. So 
successful has been its work that nearly the whole 
Christian world has accepted this symbol of Papacy, 
and rejoices in it. Neither the Reformation nor the 
advancing light upon God's word has broken its hold. 

To evade the claims of the divine law, while enforc- 
ing the observance of the false Sabbath, this power re- 
constructed the ten commandments to suit its purpose. 
On the following page, in parallel columns, are given 
the law of God as spoken on Sinai, and the same as 
amended by the Papacy. 



THE LAW 



OF GOD 



As Given by dehoVah 



/ will not alter the thing that is gone 
out of my lips. " 



I. 

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 



Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven 
image, or any likeness of any thing that is in 
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, 
or that is in the water under the earth ; thou 
shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve 
them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous 
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
the children unto the third and fourth genera- 
tion of them that hate me, and showing mercy 
unto thousands of them that love me, and keep 
my commandments. 



Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord 
thy God in vain ; for the Lord will not hold 
him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 

IV. 

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 
Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; 
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord 
thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, 
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man- 
servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, 
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates ; for 
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, 
the sea, and all that in them is, and rested 
the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blecsed 
the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

V. 

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy 
days may be long upon the land which the 
Lord thy God giveth thee. 



The 



VI. 

shalt not ki 



VII. 

Thou shalt not commit adultery 
VIII. 
Thou shalt not steal. 

IX. 

Thou shalt not bear false witness against 



thy neighbor. 



X. 



Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, 
thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor 
his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor 
his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy 
neighbor's. 

[See Exodus 20:3-17.] 



As Changed by Man 



He shall think himself able to change 
times and laws. "— Daniel 7 : 25. 
Douay Bible. 



I. 

I am the Lord thy God : thou shalt not hs 
trange gods before me. 



II. 

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord 
thy God in vain. 



III. 

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath 
day. 



IV. 

Honor thy father and thy mother. 

V. 

Thou shalt not kill. 

VI. 

Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

VII. 

Thou shalt not steal. 

VIII. 

Thou shalt not bear false witness against 



thy neighbor. 



IX. 



Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. 

X. 

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. 

[See Butler's Catechism, p 28, edition of 
1877, published by Hoffman Bros., Milwau- 
kee, Wis. 



[22o] 



Sabbath rest 



221 



In the amended version of the law it will be seen 
that the second commandment is omitted in order to 
allow the worship of images ; the fourth is so changed 
as to remove from it every vestige of the true Sab- 
bath ; and the tenth is divided to make up the num- 
ber ten, because of the omission of the second.' 

The vision of Daniel was literally fulfilled, that 
this power shall "think to change times and Jaws." 
Daniel 7:25. And truly it can be said, "They have 
transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken 
the everlasting covenant." Isaiah 24 : 5. 

And as the Protestant churches were formed as the 
result of the great Reformation of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, they brought with them many of the errors of 
the dark ages, prominent among which is the Sunday 
Sabbath. And while denouncing the Papacy they have 
clung, and are clinging, to the first day Sabbath which 
the Papacy puts forth as the evidence of its authority, 
as shown from the following quotations from their own 
publications : — 

' ' Ques. — How prove you that the church hath power to com- 
mand feasts and holy days? 

lt Ans. — By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, 
which Protestants allow of ; and therefore they fondly contradict 
themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other 
feasts commanded by the same church. — "Abridgment of Christian 
Doctrine,'''' p. 58. 

il Ques. — Have you any other way of proving that the church 
has power to institute festivals of precept? 

"Ans. — Had she not such power, she could not have done that 
in which all modern religionists agree with her, — she could not 
have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the 
week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change 
for which there is no Scriptural authority." — "Doctrinal Catechism ," 
P- 351 • 

Are the foregoing claims true or false? How do 



222 



THE COMING KING 



the Sunday-keeping Protestant churches relate them- 
selves to this question? 

The following by Rev. Isaac Williams, B. D., rep- 
resents the sentiments of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church of Europe and America: — 

" There are some points of great difficult}- respecting the fourth 
commandment ; and wherever there is any difficulty in Scripture, 
we may be sure that it is intended to draw our attentive consider- 
ation to it, as a matter of great importance and profit. 

"In the first place we are commanded to keep holy the sev- 
enth day ; but yet we do not think it necessary to keep the seventh 
day holy ; for the seventh day is Saturday. It may be said that 
we keep the first day instead ; but then surely this is not the same 
thing ; the first day cannot be the seventh da}- ; and where are we 
told in Scripture that we are to keep the first day at all? We are 
commanded to keep the seventh ; but we are nowhere commanded 
to keep the first. 

"There is another difficulty on this subject; we Christians, in 
considering each of the commandments, turn to what our Lord says 
in explanation of them ; for in the Sermon on the Mount, He says, 
that ' not one jot or tittle of the law shall fail,' that He has come ' not 
to destroy, but to fulfill the law ; ' and then He shows in the instances 
of the sixth, seventh, and third commandments, how He will re- 
quire them to be fulfilled by Christians, not in the letter only, but 
in the spirit, in the heart and thoughts, far more strictly than the 
lews thought it necessary. . . . 

"How is it that the observance of the seventh day is done away 
with, although there is no warrant in Holy Scriptures for doing so? 
. . . The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy in- 
stead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many 
other things, not because the Bible, but because the church, has en- 
joined it." — 11 The Church Catechism ," pp. 333-336. 

There is no point of difficulty, as suggested above, 
respecting the fourth commandment when we surren- 
der our will to God and obey His law. The only dif- 
ficulty to be met is where men cling to the first day 
Sabbath of the Papacy, and then attempt to justify such 
a course. In the foregoing quotation the same stand 
is taken that is taken by the Catholics, and, acknowl- 



SABBATH REST 



223 



edging that they have no Bible proof for the Sunday 
Sabbath, the whole responsibility for the observance of 
the day is placed upon the church. 

But there is a serious difficulty to be met by those 
who assume such an attitude. In the days of Christ 
the Jews had accepted tradition to the extent of mak- 
ing void the precepts of Jehovah. 

At one time the Pharisees asked Jesus, "Why do 
Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?" 
He answered, "Why do ye also transgress the com- 
mandment of God by your tradition?" He then 
states the condition of those who do this: "In vain 
they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the com- 
mandments of mem" Matthew 15:9. 

This principle holds good in this generation as well 
as in the days of Christ. By their own statement Sun- 
day worshipers stand condemned as holding to a man- 
made institution contrary to God's command, simply 
and only " because the church has enjoined it." Christ 
says that "in vain" do such "worship Me." 

In a book by Rev. Amos Binney and Rev. Daniel 
Steele, D. D., issued by the Methodist Episcopal Pub- 
lishing House, under the heading, "The Sabbath," oc- 
curs the following statements : — 

"By this [the Sabbath] is meant, 

" 1. The day appointed of God, at the close of creation, to be 
observed by man as a day of rest from all secular employment, because 
that in it God Himself had rested from His work. Genesis 2 : 1-3. 
Not that God's rest was necessitated by fatigue, Isaiah 40 : 28 ; but He 
rested, that is, ceased to work, on the seventh day as an example to 
man ; hence assigned it as a reason why man should rest on that day. 
Exodus 20 : 11 ; 31:17. God's blessing and sanctifying the day, meant 
that He separated it from a common to a religious use, to be a perpet- 
ual memorial or sign that all who thus observed it would show them- 
selves to be the worshipers of that God who made the world in six 



224 



THE COMING KING 



days and rested on the seventh. Exodus 20 : 8, 11 ; 31 : 16, 17 ; Isaiah 
56:6,7. 

"2. The Sabbath is indispensable to man, being promotive of his 
highest good, physically, intellectually, socially, spiritually, and eter- 
nally. Hence its observance is connected with the best of promises, 
and its violation with the severest penalties. Exodus 23 : 12 ; 31 : 12- 
18 ; Nehemiah 13 : 15-22 ; Isaiah 56 : 2-7 ; 58 : 13, 14 ; Jeremiah 17 : 
21-27; Ezekiel 20:12, 13; 22:26-31. Its sanctity was very dis- 
tinctly marked in the gathering of the manna. Exodus 16 : 22-30. 

"3. The original law of the Sabbath was renewed and made a 
prominent part of the moral law, or ten commandments, given through 
Moses at Sinai. Exodus 20 : 8-1 1. 

' ' 4. This seventh-day Sabbath was strictly observed by Christ and 
His apostles previous to His crucifixion. Mark 6:2; Luke 4 : 16, 31 ; 
13:10; Acts 1:12-14; 13:14,42,44; 17:2; 18:4. 

"5. Jesus, after His resurrection, changed the Sabbath from the 
seventh to the first day of the week ; thus showing His authority as 
Lord even of the Sabbath, Matthew 12:8; not to abrogate or break it, 
but to preside over and modify, or give new form to it, so as to have it 
commemorate His resurrection, when He ceased from His redeeming 
work as God did from His creation work. Hebrews 4 : 10. 

" When Jesus gave instructions for this change we are not told, 
but very likely during the time when He spake to His apostles of the 
things pertaining to His kingdom. Acts 1 : 3. This is probably one 
of the many unrecorded things which Jesus did. John 20 : 30 ; 21 : 25. 

" 6. That the Sabbath was actually changed from the seventh to 
the first day of the week appears from the example of the apostles, 
who, after the resurrection of Christ, celebrated the first day as the 
Sabbath. John 20 : 19, 26 ; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2. Hence 
this is called the Lord's day. Revelation 1 : 10." — "Binney's Theolog- 
ical Compend" pp. 169-17 1. 

No just criticism can be offered to the first four of 
the propositions here quoted. They are logical, and 
unequivocally sustained by the word of God. No ob- 
server of the Seventh-day Sabbath could state them 
more clearly. But from that point the arguments are 
illogical, the positions untenable, and the statements 
untrue as to fact. 

Jesus did not, as affirmed in proposition five, change 
the Sabbath, either before or after His resurrection. 



SABBATH REST 



225 



No shred of evidence can be found, either in the words 
of Christ or the history or teaching of the apostles, to 
substantiate such a proposition. 

God's law could not be changed. All efforts to do 
so are but man-made, and do not affect its validity. But 
more ; if it had been or could have been changed the 
record of such change would of necessity have been as 
clear and positive as the record of making it and the 
commandment enforcing it. 

The author of this proposition undoubtedly gave 
the best argument he had, namely, "This [the an- 
nouncement of the change of the Sabbath] is probably 
one of the many unrecorded things which Jesus did" 
Reader, are you willing to meet your God and Judge 
over His broken law with as flimsy an excuse as this 
for disregarding the Sabbath of the fourth command- 
ment? 

At the close of the fifth proposition a contrast is 
drawn between Christ the Redeemer and God the Cre- 
ator, which in fact does not exist, since Christ is Cre- 
ator as well as Redeemer. One text makes this truth 
plain : "He was in the world, and the world was made 
by Him, and the world knew Him not." John 1 : 10. 

As to the example of the apostles brought out in 
proposition six, the texts quoted contain no proof what- 
ever that the disciples observed the first day of the week 
as the Sabbath. Let us examine them: — 

First Text, John 20:19 

"Then the same day at evening, being the first day 
of the week, when the doors were shut where the dis- 
ciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus 
and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be 
unto you." 
15 



226 



THE COMING KING 



This was at the close of the day of the resurrec- 
tion. The disciples did not believe that Jesus had 
been raised, so this could not have been a meeting to 
commemorate that event. They were not holding a 
religious meeting, as some have supposed, but were 
simply together in their own hired room where they 
lodged and took their meals, as we learn from Acts 
1:13. See Mark 16:11; Luke 24:37. The statement 
is often made that Jesus came to this "meeting" with 
a benediction because of their assembling on this first 
new Sabbath. But this is not the case. He "up- 
braided them with their unbelief " in His resurrection. 
Mark 16:14. In the plain words of the text they had 
retired into that upper room because it was for the 
time being their home, and under the circumstances 
they spent more time there than they had formerly 
done "for fear of the Jews," and not to commemorate 
the resurrection of their Saviour, in which they did not 
believe. 

Second Text, John 20 : 26 

"And after eight days again His disciples were 
within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the 
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 
Peace be unto you." 

It is claimed that this was the Sunday after tlie 
first meeting. But the veriest school boy will tell you 
that eight days from Sunday is Monday. "After eight 
days" may have been Tuesday or any other day so 
far as the wording of the text goes. It certainly could 
not have been seven days, — the next Sunday. 

Third Text, Acts 20:7 

"And upon the first day of the week, when the dis- 



SABBATH REST 



227 



ciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto 
them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued 
his speech until midnight." 

This text is presented as a link in the chain of 
evidence showing that it was the custom of the apos- 
tles to meet on the first day of the week for religious 
worship. Hence, in some "unrecorded" way, this day 
must have become the Christian Sabbath in the place 
of the seventh day of the fourth commandment. 

Not stopping to question the soundness of the argu- 
ment, we ask, When did this meeting occur? It was 




Paul Preached Till Midnight Ready to Depart on the Morrow 



a night meeting, for "there were many lights in the 
upper chamber, where they were gathered together." 
Vs. 8. And it was "upon the first day of the week." 
Vs. 7. 

When did the "first day" begin? "And the even- 
ing and the morning were the first day." Genesis 1 : 5. 
This is the way God started the weekly cycle for this 



228 



THE COMING KING 



earth. The Jews knew of no other way. When the 
sun sets one day that day is ended and the next one 
begins. "From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your 
Sabbath." Leviticus 23:32. Hence there could not 
have been a night meeting on the first day of the 
week except on the night following the seventh. 

This was Paul's farewell meeting with the church 
at Troas. He preached all night, and on Sunday morn- 
ing started on his long walk of nineteen miles to meet 
the ship which had gone before to Assos. This shows 
conclusively that Paul did not attach any sacredness 
to the day. 

The following diagram will explain Paul's move- 
ments at this time: — 

FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, OR SUNDAY 



In the evening, or dark part, 
Paul preached all night. 



In the morning, or light part, 
Paul went on foot to Assos. 



"AND THE EVENING AND THE MORNING 

WERE THE FIRST DAY." GEN. 1:5. 

It is easy to see that the time of Paul's meeting 
at Troas was simply a matter of convenience, and not 
because the day was the Sabbath. 

We are not alone in our understanding of the cir- 
cumstances of this text as the following quotations 
will show : — 

"The sole doubt will be what evening this was. . . . For my 
own part I conceive clearly that it was upon Saturday night, as we 
falsely call it, and not on the coming Sunday night. . . . Because 
St. Luke records that it was upon the first day of the week when this 
meeting was. . . . Therefore it must needs be on the Saturday, not on 
our Sunday evening, since the Sunday evening in St. Luke's and the 
Scripture account was no part of the first, but of the second day, the 
day ever beginning and ending at evening." — William Prynne y in 
''•Dissertation on the Lord's Day Sabbath'' pp. 36-41, A. D. 1633. 



SABBATH RKST 



229 



" It was in the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath." — 
Conybeare and Howson's "Life of Paul" p. 626, people's edition, 1878. 

" I conclude, therefore, that the brethren met on the night after 
the Jewish Sabbath. . . . On Sunday morning, Paul and his com- 
panions resumed their journey." — Prof McGarvey, "Commentary on 
Acts." 

Fourth Text, 1 Corinthians, 16:2 

" Upon the first day of the week let every one of 
you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." 

It is claimed that this text refers to a collection to 
be taken at the public meetings held upon the newly 
made first day Sabbath. But unfortunately for this 
argument such an interpretation does violence to the 
text. "Lay by him in store" cannot possibly mean 
to put away from you into the contribution box. 

Upon the proper rendering of the text Mr. J. W. 
Morton, former Presbyterian missionary to Hayti, bears 
the following testimony : — 

''The whole testimony turns upon the meaning of the expression, 
' by him ; ' and I marvel greatly how you can imagine that it means 
' in the collection box of the congregation.' Greenfield, in his lex- 
icon, translates the Greek term, ' With one's self, i. e., at home? Two 
Latin versions, the Vulgate and that of Castellio, render it k apud se,* 
with one's self ; at home. Three French translations, those of Mar- 
tin, Osterwald, and De Sacy, ' chez soi, } at his own house ; at home. 
The German of Luther, ' bei sick selbst? by himself; at home. The 
Dutch, 'by hemselven? same as the German. The Italian of Diodati, 
' appresso di se, ' in his own presence ; at home. The Spanish of Fil- 
eppe Scio, 4 en su casa, y in his own house. The Portugese of Ferreira, 
' para isso,' with himself. The Swedish, ' near sig self,'' near him- 
self." 

Fifth Text, Revelation 1:10 

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." 

It is assumed that the " Lord's day" in the .ext is 
Sunday, and so Sunday must be the Sabbath. But this 
is assuming the point that should be proved. What 



THE COMING KING 



day is the Lord's day? — "The seventh day is the Sab- 
bath of the Lord thy God." Exodus 20 : 10. " ]f thou 
turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy 
pleasure on My holy day." Isaiah 58 : 13. "Therefore 
the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 
2:28. Why is Christ Lord of the Sabbath? — Because 
He made it. "All things were made by Him; and with- 
out Him was not anything made that was made." "He 
was in the world, and the world was made by Him." 
John 1 -.3, 10. See also Col. 1 : 16. 

It was the word spoken by Christ which created the 
world. Then it is Christ of whom it is said, " For in 
six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and 
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; where- 
fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed 
it." Exodus 20: 11. 

It was Christ who made the earth "in six days." 
It was Christ who "rested the seventh day." It was 
Christ who " blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." 
And for these reasons He is "Lord also of the Sab- 
bath." Nowhere in the Bible is any other day than 
the Sabbath of the commandment called the " Lord's 
day." This text proves that, far away on the Isle of 
Patmos, the beloved disciple observed and reverenced 
the day which the Lord made at creation, and has 
always called His own ; and which He requires all men 
now to regard and observe as "a delight, the holy of 
the Lord, honorable," because it is His holy, blessed, 
sanctified day. 



In a book by Rev. J. Q. Bittinger, published by the 
Congregational Sunday-school and Publishing Society, 
the following statements occur: — 



SABBATH REST 



231 



" Christ's endorsement of the Decalogue must be accepted as re- 
vealing His view of the permanency of the Sabbath. This endorse- 
ment is several times repeated. In the opening part of the Sermon on 
the Mount He uses this language: 'Think not that ] am come to destroy 
the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.' The 'law 
and the prophets ' is understood as denoting the Old Testament. . . . 

" But any lingering doubt of Christ's position on the Sabbath is 
put to rest by His own express words — ' The Sabbath was made for 
man,' not for man in any limited period or in any stage of his history, 
but for man universally and always. The Sabbath can never cease to 
be a memorial of divine rest. . . . 

" Many works of beneficence were done on the Sabbath, which 
brought the day into prominent discussion. The Gospels, accord- 
ingly, abound in frequent reference to the subject. A different state 
of things existed when the Epistles were written. 

" There did not seem to be any special occasion for calling atten- 
tion to the Sabbath. The day was kept. Its validity was not ques- 
tioned. . . . Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans is expounding the 
doctrine of justification by faith. Why should he canvass the Sabbath 
question? And yet in this discussion the law necessarily forms a 
prominent feature. Is there any reason for believing that he did not 
hold the law intact? or that he emasculated it by taking from it a sin- 
gle precept? ' Do we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid : 
yea, we establish the law.' Romans 3 : 31. Subsequently he cites some 
of the provisions of this law, and sums up the whole in the exact lan- 
guage of the Great Master, — 'And if there be any other commandment, 
it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself.' . . . (Romans 13 : 9. ) 

" In ancient writers frequent mention is made of religious assem- 
blies on Saturday. Athanasius says, ' They met on the Sabbath, not 
that they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord 
of the Sabbath.' . . . 

' ' The obligation of the Sabbath law comes to us from the Old 
Testament, and in the New this obligation is not annulled. Neither 
the Old nor the New leave any standing ground for those who main- 
tain that the Sabbath was a temporary arrangement, to serve a special 
purpose, or to meet a special emergency. But we find it ordained 
from the first, imbedded in the Decalogue on an equal footing with 
the other commands, accepted and obeyed by Christ and His disciples, 
and maintained by the entire Christian church, as perpetually obliga- 
tory upon man. Not a word is said, or even hinted, that the day was 
annulled or set aside." — "A Plea for the Sabbath and for Man ," pp. 
87, 88, 90-92, 96, 9;. 



232 



THE COMING KING 



Be it remembered, that the preceding quotation is 
taken from the pages of a book advocating the obser- 
vance of Sunday as the Sabbath. Yet after the clear 
statements of such grand truths, by some legerdemain, 
presto change, no one seems to know how, the Sab- 
bath of the law, so strenuously maintained through- 
out, is transferred from the seventh to the first. 

With a law which can not be done away, with a 
Sabbath instituted for the express and only purpose 
of celebrating the great work of creation, and with 
this Sabbath imbedded in the very heart of an im- 
mutable law, and with no evidence that any change 
was made by Christ or the apostles, how can argu- 
ments for another day be maintained in the same 
book? How can modern Sunday keepers be satisfied 
with the excuse of the Papacy, "because the church 
has enjoined it?" The first day Sabbath is frankly 
acknowledged to be a man-made institution, therefore 
those who observe it come under the Saviour's stern 
rebuke, "In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doc- 
trines the commandments of men." Matthew 15:9. 



The following statements are from the pen of W. 
W. Everts, D. D., Presbyterian, regarding the Sab- 
bath : — 

"To guard the inviolability of His laws, God had signally pun- 
ished Saul, Nadab, and Abihu. How then could He have been 
pleased with the substitution of the first for the seventh day, if not 
provided for in His new revelation ? How could the apostles have en- 
couraged by precept and example the observance of the Lord's Day, 
if set apart without divine authority, while warning the churches 
against the bondage of merely human appointments ? . . . 

" But clear apostolic example abundantly justifies the universal 
substitution of the first for the seventh as the Christian Sabbath. 
This change may have been one of the things pertaining to the king- 



SABBATH REST 



233 



dom of God, concerning which I/uke tells us Jesus spoke to His dis- 
ciples after the resurrection." — "The Sabbath : Its Permanence, Prom- 
ise, and Defence," pp. 50-52. 

Such argument is vain and even self-condemnatory, 
revealing as it does some sense of the sacredness and 
unchanging character of the divine law. How dare 
men, with the open Bible in their hands, reason thus? 
In vain do we ask to be cited to this "apostolic 
example" which so "abundantly justifies the univer- 
sal substitution of the first for the seventh as the 
Christian Sabbath." The authors of books published 
by different denominations of Sunday keepers, as pre- 
viously quoted, unite in the acknowledgement that there 
is no Bible authority for the change of the Sabbath. 

Yet notwithstanding the admitted fact that there 
is no Bible evidence of any change, and notwithstand- 
ing evidence is all against the supposition that any 
such change was ever made by divine authority, men 
are so wedded to the false Sabbath that in sheer des- 
peration they tell us that it " may be one of those 
unrecorded things which Luke says Jesus told His dis- 
ciples." 

As evidence that the apostles regarded Sunday 
as sacred, we are cited to the fact that they held 
religious meetings upon that day. But how many 
meetings did they ever hold upon Sunday so far as the 
record goes? Only one, namely, Paul's farewell meet- 
ing at Troas, upon the dark part of the first day cor- 
responding to our Saturday night. No sacredness was 
asserted as belonging to the day. It was only a casual 
meeting, as we might meet Wednesday night for prayer 
and social meeting, or on any other day which the 
conditions would make convenient or necessary. 

In addition to this lone meeting at Troas it is some- 



234 



THE COMING KING 



times urged that Christ u uniformly met with His dis- 
ciples upon the first day of the week after His resur- 
rection." But how often did He so "meet with them." 
— Not once as that term is generally understood ; a 
meeting presupposes appointment or previous arrange- 
ment. But these so-called meetings were rather appear- 
ances. Upon the day of His resurrection, Jesus "ap- 
peared first to Mary Magdalene." Mark i6:g. "After 
that He appeared in another form unto two of them, as 
they walked, and went into the country/' Verse 12. 
"Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat 
at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hard- 
ness of heart, because they believed not them which had 
seen Him after He was risen." Verse 14. These appear- 
ances all occurred upon the same first day, namely, the 
day of the resurrection, and not one of them was upon 
the occasion of a religious meeting, but incidentally as 
the disciples were following their usual bent, not even 
believing that the Saviour was risen. 

Example of the Apostles 

The weekly Sabbath, whenever referred to in the 
New Testament, always means the seventh day, or 
Saturday. Sunday is invariably spoken of as "the first 
day of the week." But the fact that Christ rose from 
the grave on Sunday, is offered by many as a reason for 
observing that day as the Sabbath. 

But Matthew about six years after, in writing of 
the resurrection, says: "In the end of the Sabbath, as' 
it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, 
came Mary Magdalene and the other Alary to see the 
sepulchre." Matthew 28 : 1. Here a sharp distinction 
is drawn between the Sabbath and "the first day." 



SABBATH REST 



235 



Mark, about ten years after the event, writes : 
"And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, 
and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had 
bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint 
Him. And very early in the morning the first day of 
the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising 
of the sun." Mark 16:1, 2. Mark had not yet heard 
of any change in the Sabbath. 

Luke, writing twenty-eight years after the resurrec- 
tion evidently knew of no change, for he says: "And 
they returned [from the burial of Christ], and prepared 
spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day accord^ 
ing to the commandment [See Exodus 20:8-11]. 
Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the 
morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the 
spices which they had prepared, and certain others 
with them." Luke 23:56; 24:1. 

The gospel of John was written sixty-three years 
after the resurrection. In chapter 19:42 he speaks of 
laying the body of Jesus in the sepulchre on "the 
Jews' preparation day," which was Friday. Chapter 
20 : 1 passes over the intervening Sabbath and speaks 
of Sunday, the resurrection day, as "the first day of 
the week." He mentions it as we would any ordinary 
working day, on which they would be at perfect lib- 
erty to bring the spices and ointments prepared on 
Friday, and do the work necessary in caring for the 
body of their Lord as was the custom for their dead. 

When Constantine made his famous decree, more 
than three hundred years after Christ, that all people 
in cities and villages should rest from work on the 
first day of the week, even he did not call it the Sab- 
bath, but called it the "Venerable Day of the Sun;" 



236 



THE COMING KING 



from which heathen festival, the name " Sunday " 
originated. 

It was not till at least one thousand five hundred 
years after Christ that Sunday began to be called the 

Sabbath. days of the week 

^ And in nearly all the old family Jst day of the week Sunday 

Bibles OCCUrS the accompanying 2nd day of the week Monday 
table in which Saturday is Called 3rd day of the week Tuesday 

the "seventh day, or the Sabbath." ^^ yo5th ek w d day 

J 1 5th day of the week Thursday 

So, clear down to the time when 6th day of the week Friday 
our old family Bibles were printed, 7th day of the week 
it was accepted that the word Sab- or Sabbath ' Saturday 

bath signified the seventh day, or Saturday. 

"Paul, as His Manner Was" 



If the example of the apostles be appealed to as 
evidence as to their understanding of this Sabbath 
question, we may be permitted to introduce the apos- 
tle Paul. In one of his famous tours through the 
Gentile churches, he came to Thessalonica, in Mace- 
donia, "where was a synagogue of the Jews." Here 
he, "as his manner was, went in unto them, and 
three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the 
Scriptures." Acts 17:1,2. 

At Antioch Paul preached to both the Jews and 
Gentiles on the Sabbath. Acts 13 : 14. At the close 
of the discourse the Gentiles asked him to preach the 
same things to them the next Sabbath. Verse 42. 
And the next Sabbath nearly the whole city came out 
to hear him. Verse 44. 

At Philippi Paul met the people on the Sabbath, 
and there preached to them. Acts 16:13. 

When Paul came to Corinth he made his home 



SABBATH R£ST 



^37 



with Aquilla and Priscilla. "And because he was of 
the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for 
by their occupation they were tent-makers. And he 
reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and per- 




Paul at Corinth 

"Worked at His Trade During the Week Preached the Gospel Every Sabbath 



suaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:3, 4- 

How long he continued his work at Corinth we 
do not know. It must have been many weeks, con- 
sidering the work accomplished and the movement of 
other apostles as directed by Paul from that place. 

Rev. J. O. Bittinger, Congregationalist, in his book, 
"A Plea for the Sabbath," as previously quoted, speak- 
ing of the Sabbath in the days of the apostles as re- 
corded in the Epistles, says, "There did not seem to 
be any special occasion for calling attention to the 
Sabbath. The day was kept. Its validity was not 
questioned." 

Certainly apostolic example is with the Sabbath of 



2 3 8 



THE COMING KING 



Jehovah, given to commemorate the finished work of 
creation. So long as it remains a fact that God cre- 
ated the earth in six days and rested the seventh, 
just so long will it be that God's Sabbath memorial 
cannot be changed. 



One more quotation will be added from first day 
authors. It is from the pen of A. W. Weston, of the 
Disciple Church : — 

"The Lordian supper was instituted by the Saviour, whereas the 
Lordian Sabbath [Sunday] was not. . . . 

' ' There was vastly greater propriety that the institutions designed 
for man to honor Christ, should originate with man himself. . . . 

" We are not of those who think that either the value or the au- 
thority of the day depends upon divine command. . . . 

"It [the Sunday Sabbath] is the day of all days, immensely, im- 
measurably, infinitely superior to the Sabbath in every lesson which 
it teaches." — "Evolution of a Shadow" pp. 188, 190, ipi, 200. 

These statements have the appearance of the cli- 
max of defiance to the law of Jehovah, reaching closely 
to the borders of blasphemy. But the writer has only 
stated in plain terms the real position of others who 
reach the same conclusion in milder words. 

Some day Jehovah will wonderfully surprise those 
who by specious words and defiant acts trample upon 
His holy day while offering in its stead a man-made 
institution. In thunder tones as at Sinai, He will de- 
mand of them, " Who hath required this at your 
hand?" "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, 
and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." 
James 2:10. 



A Sealing Message 

" And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living 
God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to 
hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, 
till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." Revelation 7:2, 3. 



The sealing work here introduced has its consum- 
mation at the close of probation. Then the last mes- 
sage of salvation has gone "to every nation, and kin- 
dred, and tongue, and people;" but it has been re- 
jected by the many. Those who accept this mes'sage 
and are sanctified by it, are sealed for the kingdom. 
Then the door of mercy is closed, probation is ended, 
and the decree goes forth : — 

" He that is unjust, Jet him be unjust still : and he 
which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is 
righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is 
holy, let him be holy still." Revelation 22:11. 

The seal brought by the "angel ascending from the 
east," is to be placed upon the "foreheads" of the "ser- 
vants-of our God." It must, therefore, represent some 
message sent to them, the acceptance of which sepa- 
rates them from the world and marks them as God's 
peculiar people. The climax is reached when their 
obedience to this sealing message has fitted them for 
translation when Jesus comes. This work of sealing 

L239] 



240 



THE COMING KING 



is the culmination of the three-fold message of Reve- 
lation 14. It brings out a company staunch, tried, 
and true, of whom it is said, "Here is the patience 
of the saints : here are they that keep the command- 
ments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Vs. 12. Their 
unquestioning obedience presents them to God as 
"more than conquerors through Him that Joved us." 
These characteristics become the badge or seal of their 
service to God. 

What is a Seal? 

The word seal in the original is denned as "a 
signet ring ; a mark, stamp, badge ; a token, a pledge." 
Webster defines the word as "an engraved or inscribed 
stamp, used for making impressions in wax or other 
soft substances, to be attached to a document, or other- 
wise used by way of authentication or security." 

One author states that a seal is used " always in 
connection with some law or enactment that demands 
obedience, or upon documents that are to be made 
legal, or subject to the provisions of law. The idea 
of law is inseparable from a seal." 

Most legal documents are not binding unless they 
bear the seal of the notary. The decrees of kings and 
governments require the seal of state to make them 
valid and obligatory. The seal attests the authenticity 
and authority of the document to which it is attached. 

The Seal of God 

A record of God's law is found in the statute book 
of His word, — the Bible. On Sinai it was graven on 
tables of stone by the finger of God. Where in that 
code do we find the seal of the Lawgiver, giving His 



A SEALING MESSAGE 



241 



name, disclosing His identity, and stating His au- 
thority ? 

The first three commandments contain the name 
of God ; but they do not designate who He is. Paul 
says, "there be gods many, and lords many." 1 Cor- 
inthians 8 : 5. Idolaters can claim these precepts as 
the law of their gods of wood and stone. The heathen 
of Africa can claim them for the gods of their fetish 
worship. There is nothing to designate the true God 
in these three precepts. 

Passing over the fourth commandment, the fifth 
contains the words, " Lord God," but does not in any 
way define them. The last five precepts do not con- 
tain the name of God at all. 

Turning back to the fourth, we find the desired 
information : " For in six days the Lord made heaven 
and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." 

One writer states that in the fourth command- 
ment " the Author of this law has designated who He 
is, the extent of His dominion, and His right to rule ; 
for every created intelligence must at once assent that 
He who is the Creator of all, has the right to demand 
obedience from all His creatures. Thus with the 
fourth commandment in its place, this wonderful docu- 
ment, the decalogue, the only document among men 
which God ever wrote with His own finger, has a 
signature ; it has that which renders it intelligible 
and authentic ; it has a seal. But without the fourth 
commandment, it lacks all these things." 

The Scriptures speak plainly as to this claim re- 
garding the fourth commandment. The Lord said to 
Israel, "Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a 
sign between Me and you throughout your generations ; 
16 



242 



THE COMING KING 



that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify 
you." Exodus 31 : 13. In Bible parlance the terms 
sign, token, mark, and seal are synonymous. 

But let us not think of this instruction entirely as 
pertaining to the literal Israel that was overthrown at 
the destruction of Jerusalem. Paul says to the Romans, 
" For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is 
that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But 
he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circumcision 
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the let- 
ter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." 
Romans 2 : 28, 29. 

To the Gentiles of Galatia the apostle writes, "If 
ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs 
according to the promise." Galatiaus 3:29. 

And in his epistle to the church at Ephesus he says 
that "the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the 
same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by 
the gospel." Ephesians 3 : 6. 

Only by taking the place which the Jews would 
have occupied if they had remained faithful, can the 
Gentiles share in this "promise made to Abraham," 
and by this promise alone are we saved. The posi- 
tion that God has made one mode of salvation for the 
Jew, and has given a new gospel for the Gentile, is 
absolutely untenable. The believing Gentiles are 
"graffed in" to the stock of Israel and thus partake 
"of the root and fatness of the olive tree." Read 
Romans 11 : 16-24 

The effects of this sealing message are summed up 
by U. Smith in the following words: — 

" Having now ascertained that the seal of God is His holy Sab- 
bath, having His name, we are prepared to proceed with the applica- 



A SEALING MESSAGE 



^43 



tion. By the scenes introduced in the verses before us, namely, the 
four winds apparently about to blow, bringing war and trouble upon 
the land, and this work restrained till the servants of God should be 
sealed, as though a preparatory work must be done for them to save 
them from this trouble, we are reminded of the houses of the Israel- 
ites marked with the blood of the paschal lamb, and spared as the de- 
stroying angel passed over to slay the first-born of the Egyptians (Exo- 
dus 12 ;) also of the mark made by the man with a writer's inkhorn 
(Ezekiel 9) upon all those who were to be spared by the men with the 
slaughtering weapons who followed after ; and we conclude that the 
seal of God, here placed upon His servants, is some distinguishing 
mark, or religious characteristic, through which they will be exempted 
from the judgments of God that fall on the wicked around them. 

"As we have found the seal of God in the fourth commandment, 
the inquiry follows, Does the observance of that commandment in- 
volve any peculiarity in religious practice? — Yes, a very marked and 
striking one. It is one of the most singular facts to be met with in 
religious history that in an age of such boasted gospel light as the 
present, when the influence of Christianity is so powerful and wide- 
spread, one of the most striking peculiarities in practice which a per- 
son can adopt, and one of the greatest crosses he can take up, even in 
the most enlightened and Christian lands, is the simple observance of 
the law of God. For the fourth commandment requires the observ- 
ance of the seventh day of each week as the Sabbath of the Lord ; but 
almost all Christendom through the combined influences of paganism 
and the Papacy, have been beguiled into the keeping of the first day. 
A person has but to commence the observance of the day enjoined in 
the commandment, and a mark of peculiarity is upon him at once. 
He is distinct alike from the professedly religious world and the 
unconverted world. 

" We conclude, then, that the angel ascending from the east, hav- 
ing the seal of the living God, is a divine messenger in charge of a 
work of reform to be carried on among men in reference to the Sab- 
bath of the fourth commandment. The agents of this work on the 
earth are of course ministers of Christ ; for to men is given the com- 
mission of instructing their fellow-men in Bible truth ; but as there is 
order in the execution of all the divine counsels, it seems not improb- 
able that a literal angel may have the charge and oversight of this 
work. 

' ' We have already noticed the chronology of this work as locating 
it in our own time. This is further evident from the fact that, as the 
next event after the sealing of the servants of God, we behold them 
before the throne, with palms of victory in their hands. The sealing 



244 



THE COMING KING 



is therefore the last work to be accomplished for them prior to their 
redemption." — "Daniel and the Revelation" pp. 442, 443. 

The Mark of the Beast 

As the seal of God is the badge of entry into 
God's everlasting kingdom, so the mark of the beast 
subjects those who bear it to the awful punishments 
of the last day. Of such it is written: — 

" If any man worship the beast and his image, and 
receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the 
same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, 
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of 
His indignation." Revelation 14:9, 10. 

The worship of the beast and: his image must be 
a heinous sin in the eyes of Jehovah, for the penalties 
against it are the most severe of any recorded between 
the lids of the Bible. The receiving of the mark must 
take place at the same time that the servants of God 
are sealed, namely, in the last days. 

What is this Mark? 

This symbol of a mark is taken from an ancient 
custom as described by Bishop Newton : "It was cus- 
tomary among the ancients for servants to receive the 
mark of their master, and soldiers of their general, 
and those who were devoted to any particular deity, 
of the particular deity to whom they were devoted. 
These marks were usually impressed on their right 
hand or on their forehead, and consisted of some hiero- 
glyphic character, or of the name expressed in vulgar 
letters, or of the name disguised in numerical letters, 
according to the fancy of the imposer." — "Disserta- 
tions on the Prophecies" Vol. j, p. 241. 

According to Prideaux, Ptolemy Philopater com- 



A SEALING MESSAGE 



^45 



manded that all Jews of Alexandria who applied for 
citizenship, should have the mark of an ivy leaf (the 
badge of his god, Bacchus) impressed upon them with 
a hot iron. — " Connection" Vol. II, p. j8. 

The original word for mark is denned as "a gra- 
ving, sculpture ; a mark cut in or stamped." 

This ancient custom of placing a significant mark 
upon individuals is used as a type of a moral mark 
which will be so indelibly impressed upon the charac- 
ters of the rebels against the law and government of 
God that it will be plain in the sight of all earthly 
and heavenly intelligences, and separate them from 
the righteous as plainly as the distinguishing brand 
of the ancients separated those who received it from 
their fellows. 

What is the Mark of the Beast 

Commentators generally agree that the beast here 
mentioned is the Papacy. The mark of the beast must 
be some form or observance by which the authority of 
that power is acknowledged. To what characteristic 
of that power does this mark respond? 

Daniel in describing the Papal power under the 
symbol of the little horn, says : "And he shall speak 
great words against the Most High, and shall wear 
out the saints of the Most High, and think to change 
times and laws, 11 Daniel 7 :25. 

The Papacy has in past ages been the ruling factor 
in many earthly governments, and has not only thought 
to change their statutes but has actually done so at 
will. So this attempted change of law cannot refer to 
human statutes. But when this power reaches forth 
its sacriligious arm to change the precepts of Jehovah 



246 



THE COMING KING 



it encounters a power it cannot subvert. It can think 
it has accomplished the change, but in point of fact 
God's law stands intact. This power can lead nearly the 
whole world to follow in its errors, but the words of the 
Saviour, "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from 
the law/' set bounds beyond which no earthly power 
can actually pass. Whatever claims may be set up to 
the contrary are only futile imaginings. God will 
search them out by and by. 

Paul refers to this power as "that man of sin, . . . 
the son of perdition ; who opposeth and exalteth him= 
self above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." 
2 Thessalonians 2 : 3, 4. 

An earthly power might assume equality with Jeho- 
vah by claiming for its precepts equal authority with the 
precepts of the Creator. But here we have a power pre- 
sented which exalts itself above God. It asserts its 
power to change the law of God, and demands and en- 
forces, so far as possible, its changed law in opposition 
to God's original law. 

The "mark of the beast" is given to those who 
"worship the beast." The "seal of God" is placed 
upon those who worship God. How shall it be de- 
termined which power the people are worshiping? — 
This is distinctly shown by the law they are keeping. 

By an examination of the law of God side by side 
with the law as changed by the Papacy (See page 220) 
this feature is made very clear. Hence when the ques- 
tion is asked, "What constitutes the mark of the 
beast?" the answer is plain, "The mark of the beast is 
the change which the beast has attempted to make in 
the fourth commandment." 

Daniel did not say that this power would make a 



A SEALING MESSAGE 



247 



new law, but that it would "think to change" some 
law already in existence. God has but one unchanging 
law, — the ten commandments. This law the Papacy 
has endeavored to change, by substituting in the 
fourth commandment the first day Sabbath of the Pa- 
pacy for the seventh day Sabbath of Jehovah. 

By this attempted change the seal of God has been 
stripped from His law, and the mark of the beast has 
been substituted. The evidence of God's authority as 
Creator was removed, and the badge of the power of 
the Papacy to change was put in its place. This power 
does not claim that God instituted or commanded this 
change in the Sabbath, but that it was made by the 
"church" and history substantiates their claim. A 
few statements from reliable Catholic writers will make 
plain this claim to authority: — 

1 ' The Word of God commandeth the seventh day to be the Sab- 
bath of our L,ord, and to be kept holy ; you Protestants, without any 
precept of Scripture, change it to the first day of the week, only au- 
thorized by our traditions. Divers English Puritans oppose, against 
this point, that the observation of the first day is proved out of Script- 
ure, where it is said, the first day of the week. Acts 20 : 7 ; 1 Cor- 
inthians 16 : 2 ; Revelation 1 : 10. Have they not spun a fair thread 
in quoting these places ? If we should produce no better for purga- 
tory and prayers for the dead, invocation of saints, and the like, they 
might have good cause, indeed, to laugh us to scorn ; for where was it 
written that these were Sabbath days in which those meetings were 
kept ? or where is it ordained that they should be always observed ? 
or, which is the sum of all, where is it decreed that the observance of 
the first day should abrogate, or abolish, the sanctifying of the sev- 
enth day, which God commanded everlastingly to be kept holy ? Not 
one of these is expressed in the written word of God." — " Treatise of 
Thirty Controversies." 

In the face of the foregoing claims the Sunday- 
keeping Protestant churches are silent. Many ac- 
knowledge that there is no Bible authority for the 



248 



THE COMING KING 



change, but accept it solely " upon the authority of the 
church." For many years the Catholics have widely 
published an offer of one thousand dollars to any one 
who would, from the Bible, produce evidence that the 
Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the 
first day of the week, but no one has taken it. The 
Sunday Sabbath is a man-made institution, and the 
Papacy boasts of the change as the badge, or "mark" 
of its authority, as shown by the following : — 

"Ques. What does God ordain by the commandment ? 
"Ans. He ordained that we sanctify, in a special manner, this 
day on which he rested from the labor of creation. 
"Ques. What is this day of rest ? 

i{ Ans. The seventh day of the week, or Saturday; for He em- 
ployed six days in creation, and rested on the seventh. Gen. 2:2; 
Heb. 4:1; etc. 

"Ques. It is, then, Saturday we should sanctify, in order to obey 
the ordinance of God ? 

il Ans. During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified ; but 
the church, instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of 
God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday ; so now we sanctify the 
first, not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the 
Lord." — "Catechism of the Christian Religion," by Stephen Keenan 
(Boston, Patrick Donahue, 1857), p. 206. 

Jehovah has given His Sabbath as the badge of 
His authority as Creator. The little horn power of 
Daniel 7:25, which we have identified as the Papacy, 
not only ruthlessly tramples upon this divine institu- 
tion, making God's chosen Sabbath the busiest day of 
the week, but it has erected in its place a counter- 
feit institution to which it points as evidence of au- 
thority to command men under sin. As in the fourth 
commandment as given by the Creator we find the 
seal of God, so in that precept as applied to the false 
Sabbath by an apostate power, we find the badge of 
the Papacy, the mark of the beast. 



The Coming King 

" Then shall appear the sign of the 
Son of man in heaven : and then 
shall all the tribes of the earth 
mourn, and they shall see the 
Son of man coming in the clouds 
of heaven with power and great glory." Matthew 24 : 30. 



There is no one truth of Scripture to which so 
much prominence is given as that of the second com- 
ing of Christ. The New Testament is especially elo- 
quent upon this subject, over three hundred references 
to it being found upon its pages. 

There is a reason for this prominence. The com- 
ing of Christ is the consummation of the Christian's 
hope ; the event which changes the Christian's experi- 
ence from mortality to immortality, from the sorrows, 
labors, privations, and agonies of the present life, to 
the joys and everlasting felicities of the life to come. 

Other hopes are set before us in the Scriptures ; 
but the hope of the coming of Christ is the crowning 
hope of all, in that it brings the realization of all 
other hopes. Thus Paul, writing to Titus, represents 
Christians as ever " looking for that blessed hope, and 
the glorious appearing of the great God and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ/' Titus 2:13. 

Christians should not only look for the appearing 
of Christ, but they should love to contemplate it. 
What man was a more true and devoted follower of 

[249] 



250 THE COMING KING 

Christ than the Apostle Paul? To him, in life and 
in death, the coming of Christ was a joyful theme, a 
" blessed hope." As he drew near to the end of his 
laborious life, and was soon to stand by the heads- 
man's block the thought of the coming of his divine 
Master filled all the chambers of his soul with glad- 
ness. Condemned to death by an unrighteous judge, 
he looked forward to the glad time when the righteous 
Judge would come to judge the world in righteousness. 
See 2 Timothy 4 : 6-8. Like Abraham he believed that 
the Judge of all the earth would do right. See Genesis 
18:25. 

This righteous judgment, so full of hope and prom- 
ise to the children of God, brings to those who have 
slighted the gracious offers of salvation and have fol- 
lowed their own evil ways, no ray of hope, no joy, 
no blessedness, nothing but destruction. The heart 
that will not be moved to repentance by the love of 
God, can be reached in no other way. God has no 
reserve power by which to save such. 

Jesus declares that His coming will be to the 
wicked like the flood which destroyed the unbelieving 
and wicked antediluvians, who mocked Noah and re- 
jected his message of warning. Read Luke 17:26, 27. 

Says Paul : " And to you who are troubled rest 
with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from 
heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking 
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey 
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall 
be punished with everlasting destruction from the pres- 
ence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; 
when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and 
to be admired in all them that believe (because our 



THE COMING KING 



251 



testimony among you was believed) in that day." 2 
Thessalonians 1 : 7-10. 

To the wicked, the day of the Lord's .appearing 
will be one of terror and distress. It is said of them 
in that day : " And the kings of the earth, and the 
great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, 
and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every 
free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks 
of the mountains ; and said to the mountains and rocks, 
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that 
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and 
who shall be able to stand?" Revelation 6 : 15-17. 

In the preceding chapters we have shown that the 
relation of our Saviour to this earth has been varied, 
to meet the needs of a fallen humanity, and bring 
back the world to allegiance to God. 

As Creator, the word of God as spoken by Him, 
called the world into existence. 

As the great central figure of the plan of salvation, 
He was the " Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world." 

The Gospel of Christ was the hope of the patri- 
archs and prophets of the Old Testament, and He, in 
person, was the Leader of ancient Israel. 

He was the greatest Teacher that the world ever 
knew. 

He became the Man of Sorrows on earth, taking 
the nature of man and living as a man, passing through 
all the experiences that a man must meet, that He 
might be able to reach mankind in whatever condi- 
tion they might be. 

He bore the sins of the world in Gethsemane, and 



252 



THE COMING KING 



died on Calvary, that pardon might be made possible 
to all who would accept the offering made at so great 
a cost. 

Raised from the dead on the third day, He made 
the great coming resurrection day possible. 

As our Mediator and Advocate, He pleads His 
blood in behalf of the repenting sinner, and by it 
brings to him forgiveness, justification, and righteous- 
ness. 

As High Priest, He now presents His own sacrifice, 
His own blood, as a perfect atonement for the sins of 
His people on earth, and thus the claims of His 
Father's law are fully met, sinners are saved, and the 
justice of God vindicated. 

But the time is very near when our Saviour will 
lay off His priestly garments, assume His kingly crown, 
put on His royal robes, and take to Himself the king- 
dom which He has redeemed from the power of the 
enemy. He is soon coming to earth to raise the 
righteous dead of all generations, change the faithful 
living from mortality to immortality, and with those 
redeemed by His great sacrifice, reign forever. To this 
great event the children of God have ever looked for- 
ward as the culmination of the hopes and desires of 
the ages. 

When He comes, it will be the same One who 
once walked the earth a stranger; the same One who 
died on the cross for sinners ; the same One who as- 
cended to heaven in the sight of His astonished and 
sorrowful disciples. "This same Jesus!" Do you be- 
lieve it ? Jesus said, " 1 will come again." The angel 
said, "This same Jesus" will come again, "In like 
manner as ye have seen Him go." He went away 



THE coming king 



253 



bodily ; He will return in trie same manner. " For 
the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven." 1 Thes- 
salonians 4:16. He was borne away in a cloud ; He 
will come in the same way. "Behold, He cometh 
with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." Revelation 
1:7. Angels escorted Him to heaven ; they will also 
return with Him. "The Son of man shall come in 
His glory, and all the holy angels with Him." Mat- 
thew 25 : 31. 

But He will not come in His own glory alone. 
When He comes to receive to Himself His faithful 
ones, He will then appear in all the glory of heaven. 
He will "come in His own glory, and in His Father's, 
and of the holy angels." Luke 9:26. His own glory 
is above the brightness of the sun. Read Acts 26 : 13. 
The glory of the Father can be no less, and the glory 
of a single angel is described as follows : — 

" And 1 saw another mighty angel come down from 
heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon 
his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his 
feet as pillars of fire." Revelation 10 : 1. 

When Jesus comes as King, accompanied by ten 
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
sands of these resplendent beings, shining in all the 
glory of Himself and His Father, He will indeed be 
"wrapped in a blaze of boundless glory." 

How different such a coming from that witnessed 
at His first advent. He came then a stranger to His 
own professed people; He will come again to be "ad- 
mired in all them that believe." Then He came in 
weakness ; now He comes in power to scatter His 
enemies. He was then a babe in Bethlehem's manger, 
wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lived to wear a 



254 



THE COMING KING 



crown of thorns ; now He comes a king, wearing a 
crown of glory, and attended by all the shining angels. 
Then He came to bear the burden of sin, to suffer and 
to die ; now He comes without sin, nevermore to die, 
but bearing crowns of life for all His people. Thank 
God that this time — 

" He comes not an infant in Bethlehem born, 

He comes not to lie in a manger ; 
He comes not again to be treated with scorn, 

He comes not a shelterless stranger ; 
He comes not to Gethsemane, 

To weep and sweat blood in the garden ; 
He comes not to die on the tree, 

To purchase for rebels a pardon ; 
Oh, no ! glory, bright glory environs Him now." 

And we shall see Him. What a thought ! See 
Him as He is ; He whose head and hairs are white 
like wool, as white as snow ; whose eyes are as a flame 
of fire ; whose feet are like unto fine brass, as if they 
burned in a furnace ; whose voice is as the sound of 
many waters, and whose countenance is as the sun shin- 
eth in his strength. See Revelation i : 14-16. But 
this is too much for our understanding. We must wait 
for the glad day of His actual coming, when our eyes 
may behold Him in all His splendor; for "It doth not 
yet appear what we shalJ be: but we know that, when 
He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall 
see Him as He is." 1 John 3:2. 




The King's Reward 

"Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man 
according as his work shall be." Revelation 22:12. 

The blessed Lord said to His disciples, "1 wiJl 
come again, and receive you unto Myself." John 14:3. 
To have Christ and be with Him eternally, is no 
small reward. But this promise was not for the dis- 
ciples alone. When "Paul the aged" was in prison, 
waiting for his death sentence to be carried out, he 
wrote: "1 am now ready to be offered, and the time 
of my departure is at hand. 1 have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, 1 have kept the faith: 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- 
eousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall 
give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto 
all them also that love His appearing." 2 Timothy 4: 
6-8. 

A crown of righteousness is a part of the great 
reward which the King will bestow. This is called 
by some writers a "crown of life." James 1:12; 
Revelation 2 : 10. Another says, "When the Chief 
Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of 
glory that fadeth not away." 1 Peter 5 : 4. 

But in order for this crown to be received by all 
for whom it is intended, some must be called from 
the dead ; for many who now sleep in the dust have 

[255] 



256 



THE COMING KING 



been righteous. The Lord, however, has made pro- 
vision for all these. " For this we say unto you by 
the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and 
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not pre- 
vent [go before] them which are asleep. For the Lord 
Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with 
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of 
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Thes- 
salonians 4:15, 16. 

Thank God that though good men may die, the 
grave cannot hold them when the Lord comes and 
calls for them. No, indeed; for "all that are in the 
graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." 
John 5 : 28, 29. Not only this, but at the very in- 
stant when they come out of their graves the gift of 
immortality is theirs. This is the Lord's promise : 
"Behold, 1 show you a mystery; We shall not all 
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in 
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the 
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in- 
corruptible [immortal], and we shall be changed." 
1 Corinthians 15:51,52. 

Glorious change indeed ; no more sickness, sorrow, 
pain, or death, "for the former things are passed 
away." Revelation 21 : 4. "Death is swallowed up in 
victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54), and all things are 
made new — a new life, a new home, a new occupa- 
tion, a new song — and best of all, these may be en- 
joyed throughout the eternal ages. 

Is all this worth looking after? Who does not 
desire such a reward? Oh, to be able to receive it! 
But in order to have this, each one must be " counted 
worthy" of it. When the Lord comes, only the "dead 



THE KING'S REWARD 



257 



in Christ " arise at His call. 1 Thessalonians 4:16. 
The rest of the dead do not' rise till a thousand years 
afterward. See Revelation 20 : 5. This shows that the 
righteous are separated from the wicked when the Lord 
comes. But even this is done in a moment, in the 
"twinkling of an eye." There is no time for the 
judgment, then. No ; before the Lord comes, He looks 
over the cases of those who profess to know Him, 
and decides who are faithful ; all the rest are left 
out, and when the King comes, the faithful alone are 
raised to life. After these are taken to dwell with 
Him, the wicked have their resurrection, and are 
brought forth to be punished. John 5:29. 

After the decision has been made as to who are 
worthy to come up in the resurrection of the just, 
then the Lord comes - to give them the reward of 
everlasting life. Let us remember, then, that we must 
be ready to meet the Lord before this decision is ren- 
dered ; for if we wait until the Lord is seen coming, 
it will be too late. We shall then be obliged to cry, 
"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we 
are not saved." Jeremiah 8:20. 

The Lord gives us a solemn warning on this point. 
He says to all : "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any 
time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and 
drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day 
come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it 
come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole 
earth." Luke 21:34,35. Snares are placed in con- 
cealment, where they will take birds and beasts that 
are not looking for them ; as they move along care- 
lessly, not thinking of any danger, suddenly, in an 
instant, they are ensnared, never to escape. In just 
17 



2 5 8 



THK COMING KING 



the same way will the Lord's coming overtake those 
who are not prepared for it. "Watch ye therefore/' 
the Saviour said, "and pray always, that ye may be 
accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall 
come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." 
Luke 21 : 36. 

We have seen that our resurrection, our immortal- 
ity, our being with Christ, our crown of inheritance, 
all depend upon, and are to be given at, His second 
coming. How important, then, that coming is. If 
the coming were to prove a failure, all would be lost. 
But that can never be. All through the dim ages of 
the past, as the saints have fallen one by one by the 
stroke of death, angels have marked their places of 
rest. And when the command of the returning Lord 
shall be heard, Go, "gather My saints together unto 
Me," with what joyful haste will the angels fly to 
meet those who have burst the tomb at the sound of 
the voice of the Son of God ! 

Oh, glorious awakening ! Perhaps the first sight to 
greet the vision of those opening eyes in the dawn of 
eternity will be the face of an angel, radiant with 
glory. It must surely be an awakening of song, when 
death is thus "swallowed up in victory," and the 
sweet voice of Him who is our Redeemer is heard 
to sing, "1 will declare Thy name unto My brethren, 
in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto 
Thee." Hebrews 2:12. Then will the very heavens 
ring with the jubilee of that assembled throng. 



UHHHBBMUnHOflMfflai^ 



The New Jerusalem 





iiBIIllllll 



" And I John saw the holy city, New Jeru- 
salem, coming down from God out of 
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for 
her husband." Revelation 21:2. 



Christ, when about to leave His disciples, com- 
forted them with these words: "In My Father's house 
are many mansions: if it were not so, 1 would have 
told you. 1 go to prepare a place for you. And if 1 
go and prepare a place for you, 1 will come again, and 
receive you unto myself; that where 1 am, there ye 
may be also." John 14 : 2, 3. 

There is a glorious city being built in heaven for 
the faithful. Mansions are being prepared in it for the 
overcomers. This wondrous city was already under 
construction when Christ was on earth. On His return 
to heaven, He promised to continue this work ; and as 
the years passed, new mansions were to be added to 
meet the demands of the saints, even down to the very 
time when the King shall come and claim His own. 
Then, at the resurrection of the just, these mansions 
shall be given them. 

Then the resurrected saints and the living righteous 
will be caught up "in the clouds, to meet the Lord 
in the air/' See 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52; 1 Thessa- 
lonians 4:16, 17. Borne from earth to the mansions 
prepared for them in the city of God, they will there 

[259J 



26o 



THE COMING KING 



live and reign "with Christ a thousand years." Rev- 
elation 20 : 4. 

During this thousand years the saints will "judge 
the world," as stated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 : 2, 
and as recorded in Daniel 7:22. At the end of the 
thousand years the wicked dead will be raised. See 
Revelation 20 : 5, 6. The New Jerusalem will come 
down to earth from heaven. See Revelation 21 :2, 10. 

For a thousand years Satan will be confined to this 
earth. During this time his subjects will all be dead, 
and he can deceive them no longer, for there will be 
none alive to be deceived, so the earth will be a dreary 
prison for him. This is called the binding of Satan. 
Read Revelation 20 : 2. 

But with the resurrection of all the wicked who 
have ever lived, a field opens again in which Satan can 
work, and he is thus "loosed out of His prison." Rev- 
elation 20 : 7. Thus having opportunity once again to 
deceive "the nations" (verse 8), the earth no longer 
confines him as in a prison. 

The glorious new Jerusalem is before him. He once 
before waged war with heaven (Revelation 12:7), and 
he now determines to marshall his forces and, if pos- 
sible, capture the city. It is a desperate undertaking, 
but it is his last opportunity, and he hopes to win. 
This hope he presents to the vast throng of the resur- 
rected wicked. In this multitude are the great warriors 
of every age. He deceives them with the vain hope of 
success in his enterprise. 

The earth rings with the preparation for war. 
When all is ready, the mighty army is gathered "to 
battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and 



THE NEW JERUSALEM 



26l 



compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved 
city." Revelation 20 : 8, 9. 

But as they are about to wage impious war upon 
Christ and the redeemed host, fire comes "down from 
God out of heaven/ ' and devours them. Verse 9. 
Thus will end the kingdon of Satan, and the reign 
of wickedness in all the universe of God. 

This purifying fire will cleanse the earth, and it 
will be made perfect and lovely as on the day when 
it came from the hand of the Creator, and He pro- 
nounced it "good." 

Peter, speaking of this event, says that "the ele- 
ments [the atmosphere surrounding the earth] shall 
melt with fervent heat, the earth also [shall melt] and 
the works that are therein shall be burned up." 
" Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for 
new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- 
eousness." 2 Peter 3 : 10, 13. 

The earth will melt with the burning of that day. 
The "works" of man "that are therein shall be burned 
up;" but from it will come a new earth, glorious in 
all the beauty that an all-wise Creator can give it. 
The " heavens," or atmosphere which surrounds it, will 
be made " new," freed from all the poisonous elements 
which now contaminate it. 

The New Jerusalem has been preserved through 
these terrible scenes by the power of God. When the 
holy city comes "down from God out of heaven," our 
Saviour precedes it and prepares a place for it. " And 
His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of 
Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the 
Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof 
toward the east and toward the west, and there shall 
be a very great valley." Zechariah 14:4. 



262 



THE COMING KING 



It is reasonable to suppose that in this wonderful 
valley, so miraculously prepared, the New Jerusalem 
will descend. It is the largest city the world has ever 
known, and requires spacious grounds. 

The mount of Olives is surrounded by memories the 
most sacred. It is close by Jerusalem, in which was the 
temple where God was wont to meet His faithful peo- 
ple. Here the Saviour loved to go with His disciples. 
Whole nights He spent upon its sides in prayer, and 
from it He ascended to heaven when His mission to 
earth was finished. 

When He returns, accompanied by the New Jerusa- 
lem, how appropriate that His feet should first rest 
upon the spot from which He ascended. How appro- 
priate that the New Jerusalem, the capital city of the 
new earth, should rest upon the spot where the earthly 
Jerusalem once stood. 

Hallowed by the presence of Christ, and transformed 
by His power, this spot of earth is purified and made 
ready without the action of the fires of the great burn- 
ing. So while the surrounding earth is being melted 
and made new, the city of our God remains unmolested, 
the peaceful home of Christ and the redeemed throng. 

God has seen fit to give us a minute description of 
this glorious city. It lies foursquare, and it is twelve 
thousand furlongs, or fifteen hundred miles, around it. 
This makes three hundred and seventy-five miles on 
every side. It has a wall about two hundred and fifty 
feet high, built of jasper. This wall has twelve foun- 
dations, made up of the rarest and most beautiful stones. 
In this wall are twelve gates, each one made of a single 
pearl. The mansions are made of transparent gold. 

The river of life issues from " the throne of God 



THE NEW JERUSALEM 263 



and of the Lamb," and runs through the main street 
of the city. The river flows beneath the tree of life, 
which grows on either side. From the description 
given in Revelation 22:2, we understand that this won- 
derful tree has two trunks — one on each side of the 
river. Its branches join at the top, forming a beauti- 
ful arch over the river. 

"And the leaves of the tree were for the healing 
of the nations." Verse 2. Sin has dwarfed and en- 
feebled mankind ; but the leaves of this tree will re- 
store the race to its original condition before the curse 
of sin rested upon it. Thus all effects of the curse 
will be removed. 

The fruit of the tree ripens every month, and it 
bears "twelve manner of fruits." Revelation 22:2. 
And as the saints come up "from one new moon to 
another" (Isaiah 66:23), ^ ^ s reasonable to infer that 
this tree will be found loaded with a different variety 
of fruit each month. The fruit of this tree perpetu- 
ates the life of those who eat of it. 

The New Jerusalem is the city residence of the 
saved. In it are mansions for all. Outside the city, 
to earth's remotest bounds, the nations of the saved 
dwell in peace, plenty, and happiness. 

But they are not idle. They have their occupa- 
tions and individual interests as we have now. Read 
Isaiah 65:21-25. They will "build houses" to suit 
their own tastes, and they will live in them forever. 
"They shall not build, and another inhabit." They will 
attend to farming pursuits ; for " they shall plant vine- 
yards, and eat the fruit of them." "They shall not plant, 
and another eat." There will then be no mortgages 
to foreclose, nor rents to pay, nor taxes to be collected, 



264 



THE COMING KING 



Their occupation will be varied by frequent visits 
to their city home in the New Jerusalem ; for " from 
one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to 
another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, 
saith the Lord." Isaiah 66 : 23. But there will be 
order in this new realm, and there will be those who 
will govern the various provinces of the empire of 
Christ ; for it is stated that " the kings of the earth 
do bring their glory and honor into it." Revelation 
21 124. 

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, 
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for 
the former things are passed away." Revelation 21:4. 
Forever made free from death, the saved will live an 
eternal life, in duration as the life of God, with whom 
" they shall reign forever and ever." Revelation 22:5. 

Lost in amazement as we contemplate these won- 
derful themes, we can only join with Paul in exclaim- 
ing, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of man, the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love him." 1 Corin- 
thians 2 19. 



SIGNS of the TIMES 



FAMINES 

" And there shall be famines." Matthew 24 : 7. 

Anything which cuts off the supply of food from any part of the 
world produces famine in that part of the world. There are many 
causes that may result in breaking " the staff of bread," among which 
prominent are drought, excessive rains, floods, frosts, ravage by insect 
pests, desolation of war, etc. 

History records more than three hundred and fifty famines since 
the memorable seven years' famine in Egypt in Joseph's day. 
Among the most prominent of modern times may be mentioned the 
following : — 

In 1775 in Cape Verd, 15,000 persons perished of hunger. 

In 1814, 1816, 1822, 1831, and 1846, occurred notable famines in 
Ireland, occasioned by the failure of the potato crop. In 1847, the 
English Parliament voted $50,000,000 to purchase food for the starving 
people of Ireland. 

In 1837-38, 800,000 persons perished in Northwestern India. 

In 1865-66, in Bengal and Orissa about 1,000,000 persons perished. 

The Famines of India 

The following facts touching famines in India are gathered from 
an article from Edward Russell, entitled, "Soldiers of the Common 
Good." It was published in Everybody' s Magazine for June, 1906. 

During one of India's more recent famines eight million souls per- 
ished in a single year from hunger. This number equals about one- 
eleventh of the present population of the United States. These souls 
were not mercifully cut off from a happy life by earthquake, or tor- 
nado, or revolution, nor even by some disease doing its work in a short 
time, but they died after the prolonged agonies of famine. Men, women, 
[266] 



FAMINES 



267 



and little children perished while daily watching each other grow 
gaunt and lean and sunken-eyed, watched until with parched throats 
and gnawing pains they sunk upon their crouched haunches, the 
bones all but protruding from their attenuated limbs, and died in the 
streets already cumbered with the dead, for the reason that there were 
not enough left with strength to give them burial. 

A single famine in India claimed more victims in a year than have 
perished in all the battlefields of the world in centuries. 

We shudder at the thought of the French Revolution with its 
Reign of Terror, but it would take 3,500 Reigns of Terror to kill as 
many people as died in India in one year from lack of food. 

In 1877 more than 5,000,000 people perished from famine in the 




Sufferers in the Bombay House of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. 



presidency of Madras alone out of a population of about 30,000,000. 

In the Northern India famine of 1837, 1,000,000 perished. In 
i860, in the same region, 200,000 died of famine. In 1866 one-third of 
the population perished. In 1869, in the same famine-stricken region, 
the mortality was 1,000,000, and again in 1878 a million and a quarter 
died from the same cause. 

In the great famine of 1897, 3,000,000 people received government 
aid, which alone kept them from starvation. 

In 1900 began the " black famine," which continued two years, 
during which time many died, while 6,200,000 people were kept from 
actual starvation by government aid and by relief afforded by outside 
charities. 

Between the years 1891 and 1901 there was an actual decrease in 



268 



THE COMING KING 



the population of India of 8,000,000 because of famine. Under normal 
conditions there would have been a like increase ; therefore during 
that period of ten years there was, because of famine, a loss of 
16,000,000 souls to the country in point of population. 

Such famines as these referred to are becoming worse, notwith- 
standing the large charities that flowed into the stricken regions from 
nations having enough and to spare. 

One sad thing about famines, not only in India, but wherever 
they prevail, is that such conditions are almost invariably rendered 

worse by "man's inhumanity to 
man." In India and in Russia, for 
instance, even in fruitful years the 
taxgatherer leaves many of the 
peasants only a scant subsistance. 
Under such conditions even a par- 
tial failure of crops means an in- 
creased death rate and untold suf- 
fering to thousands, even when it 
does not reach actual starvation. 

In India caste renders condi- 
tions, hard at best, even more intol- 
erable and hopeless. This mon- 
strous system holds India in its 
relentless grasp and closes the door 
of hope to thousands who might 
otherwise rise above their native 
environment, and even lift others 
up with them. Caste renders any- 
thing like general progress ex- 
tremely difficult if not altogether 
impossible. 

Caste forbids that one shall 
ever rise above the station to which 
he is born. One may, by breaking 
caste, — that is by disregarding the rules of the system, — sink to a 
lower caste, but to rise is impossible. 

The Sudras, the lowest laborer's caste, earn but $2.24 per month. 
From this meager sum they feed and clothe themselves. 

Why is the World Interested? 

There are few so selfish and unfeeling as not to have a degree of 
sympathy for those who are in want and suffering. But even aside 
from this natural feeling for the unfortunate, the civilized world is 




Sparrows 



These sauey little fellows were brought to 
the United States from England that they 
might destroy caterpillars. But they have 
become so impudent and aggressive that 
they have driven away our native birds, are 
a pest in the cities, and a menace to growing 
crops. Their increase is enormous, and the 
Strand Magazine estimates " that in ten 
years, provided all lived, the progeny of a 
single pair would be 275,716,983,698 sparrows, 
all with a greedy mouth, and all a menace to 
the land." 



FAMINES 



269 



interested in the condition of the people of India. Owing largely to 
the frequency of famine there, India is and always has been one of the 
plague centers of civilization. 

Every famine in that seemingly so far off land is a menace to the 
health of the civilized world. Epidemics invariably follow famines. 
Eevers, smallpox, cholera, the plague, lurk in the poisonous water 
supplies, the undrained cesspools, the 
germ-laden dust, the defective sanitation 
attendant upon the unburied dead of the 
famine period. These epidemics always 
reap a second crop of death in this be- 
nighted land. In the year 1900 following 
the famine, 809,179 died of cholera, 
85,796 of smallpox, and 522,704 of dysen- 
tery. From India these highly contagious 
diseases are carried to every foreign port, 
there to break out afresh. No land is im- 
mune, no household is even comparatively 
safe from the menace of India's pestilence- 
breeding famines. 




The Rabbit Pest 



Not in India Alone 



In Australia and New Zealand, 
the rabbits have become a menace 
to farmers. Some parts of Califor- 
nia, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and 
Utah are also overrun with these 
pests, which sometimes make crop 
raising practically impossible. 



But it is not to India alone that we can 
look for the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy 
as recorded in Matthew 24 : 7. Three hun- 
dred thousand died of starvation and attendant diseases in the re- 
concentrado camps of Cuba during her war with Spain. Russia and 
China have had their still more recent famines, and many districts of 
these countries are always on the verge of starvation. Only a few 
years since, the United States and other lands liberally contributed 
to assist in caring for the famine sufferers of Japan. 



While famine is not a direct evidence of the last days, its increas- 
ing frequency, together with the failure of food crops, shows that our 
world, like a feeble old man, is wasting away to its final death. In 
many localities that once produced abundantly, continual cropping 
has taken the fertility from the soil, until it has become wholly un- 
productive, and hence is abandoned to weeds and briars. 

But still more alarming as it applies more directly to our imme- 
diate needs, some of our most important food crops are failing, often 
without apparent cause. The falling off of the wheat crop in the lead- 
ing wheat-producing States is startling, and grave fears are aroused in 



270 



THK COMING KING 



regard to the future of this staple bread product. For years the 
papers of our land have been calling attention to the decrease of the 
grain crop of the United States. The New York 
Tribune several years ago noted that in the three 
great wheat-producing States of Ohio, Illinois, and 
Michigan, "the average wheat crop has run down 
to less than twelve bushels an acre and it cannot be 
»; l° n g till the wheat culture 

there must be abandoned as 
unprofitable," and to quite an 
extent it has been. 

As recently as November, 
1909, Mr. James J. Hill in an 




The gypsy moth has become a 
terrible pest in Massachusetts. 
Notwithstanding the rigorous 
war upon it by the State, they are 
only successful in confining it to 
about 220 square miles of terri- 
tory. They have not been able to 
exterminate it, or appreciably to 
diminish its ravages. 



article in World's Work said : — 

"The armed fleets of an enemy ap- 
proaching our harbors would be no more 
alarming than the relentless advance of a 
day when we shall have neither sufficient 
food nor the means to purchase it for our 
population." 

Again in the same article Mr. Hill 
says : — 

' ' The startling feature of this changed 
aspect of demand and supply is that it is 
immediate. We have to provide for a con- 
tingency not distant from us by nearly a 

generation, but already present. The food condition presses upon us 
now. The shortage has begun. Witness the great fall in wheat 
exports and the rise of prices." 

The abundant wheat crops of a few of the Western States and 
Western Canada are filling the gap caused by the falling off in the 
older wheat-producing States ; but these may in turn soon show the 
same record as the others. California, which for years was our 
greatest wheat producing State, is showing a marked decrease in pro- 
duction. 

Everything indicates that the world is growing old, and is in her 
dotage. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the last days, says, "The 
earth shall wax old like a garment." Isaiah 51: 6. The truth of this 



FAMINES 



271 





Locusts 



prophecy is brought to our minds in a hundred different 
ways, and especially in the uncertainty and falling off of crops 
which a few years ago were regarded as 
sure. 

The cause of crop failures are 
not always the same. Sometimes ^ 
it is loss of vitality of old mother 
earth herself ; sometimes it is a 



lack of sufficient rain ; and sometimes 
it is the invasion of insect enemies to 
vegetation. During the last two de- 
cades, scores of new insect pests have 
arisen, at times practically extermina- 
ting products of the soil that were 
previously abundant. The scourge of 
the locust and the grasshopper has 
been felt in some of our grain-producing States. The prophet Joel 
says of such pests : "The land is as the garden of Eden before them, 
and behind them a desolate wilderness." Joel 2 : 3. 

Speaking of these insects, Professor Riley says, in the Inter- 
national Encyclopedia : ' ' Insignificant individually, but mighty col- 
lectively, locusts fall upon a country like a plague or blight. . . . 
The morrow comes ; the fertile land of promise and plenty has be- 
come a desolate waste." 

Again the prophet Joel says : "That which the palmer- worm hath 
left hath the locust eaten ; and that which the locust hath left hath the 
canker-worm eaten. . . . Alas for the day 1 for the day of the Lord is at 
hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. . . . The seed 
is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are 
broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the 
herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture ; yea, the flocks 
of sheep are made desolate. . . . The beasts of the field cry also unto 
Thee : for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the 
pastures of the wilderness." Joel I : 4-20. 

To the Bible student the events transpiring around us are signifi- 
cant, and point to the day near at hand when the earth and the things 
that are therein, have waxed "old as doth a garment; and as a vesture 
shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed/' Hebrews I MI, 12. 



" And there shall be famines and pestilences." Matt. 24 : 7. 



In fulfillment of this prophecy we may expect to find in history 
records of fearful destruction of human life by plague and other pes- 
tilences. Our Saviour has given these things as signs of the latter 
days, and from them we may know that the end draws on apace. 

Pestilences have prevailed more or less throughout the entire his- 
tory of the world, but it is a notable fact that they have increased both 
in frequency and virulency since the beginning of the Christian era. 

It is true that medical science has by the quarantine and improved 
methods of sanitation done much to restrict the ravages of some of 
the pestilences which formerly terrorized Christendom, but as some of 
the older diseases have been measurably controlled new ones have 
arisen, so that the world in its present condition is not likely ever 
to emerge from the overhanging shadow and menace of pestilence. 

Tuberculosis, cancer, and pellagra, while they have never been 
epidemic to such an extent as to be called pestilences, are becoming 
very serious menaces to the health and life of a very large part of the 
human race. 

Tuberculosis though known for many centuries, being described 
by Hippocrates more than four hundred years before Christ, has be- 
come alarmingly prevalent only in modern times. 

Cancer is second only to tuberculosis as an enemy of the human 
race. It is constantly upon the increase, and so far medical science 
has been unable to devise any measures either for its cure or prevention. 

Pellagra, sometimes called Italian leprosy, is a loathsome disease. 
Authorities are not agreed as to its cause and no cure has ever been 
discovered for it. It is always fatal and no quarantine can be made 
effective against it. It has been known in America for only a few 
years, but already it numbers its victims by thousands and has spread 
over a considerable portion of the United States. 

The four most dreaded pestilences, because the most wide-spread 
[272] 



PESTILENCES 



273 



in their scope, and the most rapid and virulent in their operation, are 
bubonic plague, small pox, yellow fever, and cholera. 

Black Death or Bubonic Plague 

The black death, or bubonic plague, as it is called, is among the 
oldest and most fatal of pestilences. In its presence human skill 
stands paralyzed. No cure has ever been found for it. 

The first accounts of this plague date back to 253 
A. D. From 542 to 565 it raged in Egypt and Italy. In 543 
it reached Constantinople, where it carried off 10,000 per- 
sons in one day. Between the years 664 and 683 it visited 
England four times. 

Proust makes the statement that ' ' between the 
eleventh and fifteenth centuries at least thirty minor epi- 
demics of this disease appeared in different parts of 
Europe." 

In the fourteenth century, it traveled over Europe 
generally, reaching England in 1349. Hecker estimates 
that during this visitation 
25,000,000 persons died. 
London was visited in 1400, 
1406, and 1428. 

In 1428, 80,000 
died in Dantzic. 

In 1472, 40,000 
died in Paris be- 
tween sunrise and 
sunset, — one day. 

In 1563, 1,000 
a week died in Lon- 
don, 200,000 died 
in Moscow, and 
50,000 at Lyons. 

In 1576, Venice lost 70,000. 

In 1603, 38,000 died in London, and 1,000,000 in Egypt. 
In 1656, Genoa lost 60,000. 

In 1664 was the great plague of London. The total deaths were 
68,596. The infected houses were marked with a red cross and the 
legend, " God have mercy upon us." 

In the eighteenth century, the plague visited Constantinople, and 
spread along the Danube. 

In 1743 it appeared in Sicily, in 1744 in Hungary, then success- 
ively in European Turkey and Moldavia. 
18 




274 



THE COMING KING 



It was in Constantinople in 1802-3, Armenia and Bagdad in 1807, 
Russia in 1808, Turkey and Egypt in 1828, Russia in 1834-35. 
In 1853-54 it spread over Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
It appeared in Europe on the Volga in 1878-79. 
Since that time it has broken out many times in different places, 
but modern sanitary science has confined it to some degree. 

In December, 1899, the plague appeared in Honolulu. There it 
became such a menace to the health of the people that a portion of 
the city was burned for the purpose of eradicating it. In 1900 two 
cases reached the port of New York, and the same year it found 
lodgment in San Francisco, where it retained a foothold until several 
years after the great earthquake and fire of 1906.* 

The time was when this plague could have 
been stamped out, or at least brought under con- 
trol. But the apathy of the world to this menace 
will surely bring it to other lands. Already have 
many cases been reported in South America, Ha- 
waii, San Francisco, and some of the eastern cities 
of the United States. In some unhealthful season 
we may expect this plague to find its way to our 
very doors. Until intelligent, untiring effort is 
put forth to guard India against both famine and 
pestilence no country in the world is safe from the 
plague which it breeds. 

Smallpox 

Smallpox is one of the oldest pestilences of 
which we have any account. The contagion ex- 
ceeds in virulence any other disease, and may be 
communicated at any stage of its course. It appeared in Europe 
in the year 520. It is generally believed that the Saracens introduced 
smallpox into many parts of Europe in 770. 

In 151 7 it was carried by adventurers to the West Indies. 
It reached Mexico in 1520, and Brazil in 1563. 

The last great epidemic in Europe and America began in 1870 and 
abated in 1873. 

*Bubonic plague is communicated to human beings largely if not entirely by 
flea bites. Rats afford a breeding place for fleas and also furnish a means of trans- 
porting them from one section of a city to another, or even of carrying them to dis- 
tant cities. Rats themselves suffer from this disease, which is carried from them 
to human beings by fleas. Any ship coming from an infected port is likely to 
bring the plague, even though there may be on board no known case of the dis- 
ease. It may carry infected rats and fleas. Some years ago the plague reached 
San Francisco in this way, and found a lodgment in Chinatown. It was exceed- 
ingly hard to eradicate, and it is believed by some authorities that its seeds still 
linger there. It is also stated that the grey ground squirrels so abundant in that 
State have become infected and are therefore a serious menace to the lives of the 
people even in the rural districts. 



Deaths From Plague 

During the 3'ears 1896- 
1905, the deaths from 
plague in India are offi- 
cially reported as follows : 

1896 2,219 

1897 47.991 

1898 89,265 

1899 102,369 

1900 73.576 

1901 234,672 

1902 445-293 

1903 201,893 

1904 888,678 

1905 est. 1,300,000 

The increase from year 
to year is alarming. Un- 
less effective measures for 
controlling this plague are 
taken, it will not be long 
confined to India. Already 
it is a menace to the world, 
and may soon reach our 
doors. 



PESTILENCES 



275 



Yellow Fever 

Yellow fever is typhus in its nature. It is most prevalent in a 
hot climate, and is especially virulent where sanitary conditions are 
disregarded. Frosts and a low temperature check its action ; but the 
germs of the disease often lie dormant until the return of warm 
weather, and then come into fresh activity. For twenty-five consecu- 
tive years Philadelphia had its epidemic of yellow fever each summer, 
the germs remaining dormant during the winter. 

It appeared in Charleston, South Carolina, and in Philadelphia, 
in 1793, and spread thence to New York and the ports of New Eng- 
land, as far north as New Hampshire. It has also prevailed to some 
extent in the Southern States and in other countries, since the dawn 
of the present century. 

Cholera 

This is also a modern disease, for the attention of physicians was 
not called to it until the year 181 7. At this time it broke out in Brit- 
ish India, resulting in great loss of life to both Europeans and natives. 
During the next three years it raged in Ceylon, spreading thence to 
China on the east and Persia on the west. 

In 1823 it prevailed in Asia Minor and Russia in Asia, and was 
very severe in India. 

In 1831-32 it reached England. The scourge next attacked 
France, Spain, and Italy, and finally crossed the Atlantic and invaded 
both North and Central America. In the course of twenty years the 
whole world was visited by the pestilence. 

The outbreak of 1847 covered a much wider area than that of 
1832, Russia, the whole of the American continent, and the "West In- 
dies being sorely smitten. 

The third outbreak, in 1850, originated in India, passed to Europe 
in 1853, and attacked the armies in the Crimea, especially at Sebastopol. 

In 1865-66, a fourth, but less violent, visitation yielded to sanitary 
measures. 

In 1891-92, there was cholera in Russia and Germany. 

But the most severe scourge of recent years was in Russia and 
Italy during the summer and Autumn of 1910. Between June 25 and 
October 7 there were 332,881 cases and 153,581 deaths in Russia alone. 
The mortality covers fifty per cent. 

The Last Plagues 

In the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of Revelation we read of 
seven terrible plagues which will visit the dwellers on this earth. 
These plagues immediately precede the end of this dispensation ; for 



2j6 



THE COMING KING 



with the seventh plague comes the last great earthquake, which ac- 
companies the appearance of Christ to this earth. See Revelation 16 : 
17-20; 6 : 14-17. 

Seven angels have charge of these seven great calamities. 1 'And 
the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth ; and there fell 
a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the 
beast, and upon them which worshiped his image. . . . And they 
gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven be- 
cause of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." 
Revelation 16 :2, 10, 11. 

This description seems to apply to some such pestilence as the 
" black plague," but in an aggravated form. This plague does not 
cease when the next one follows ; for in verses 10 and 11 it is spoken 
of as still doing its terrible work while the fifth plague is falling. 

Truly there are terrible scenes yet to be enacted, and the pesti- 
lences and calamities which are becoming so frequent are but the fore- 
runners of more awful events still before us. Quarentines serve now 
to check the spread of pestilences, but the time is coming when this 
will not be so. 

The time of " the lord's anger " is drawing near. His forbear- 
ance and mercy will spare a world in which wickedness is rife, until 
His people are all made up, and then the judgments of Jehovah will 
fall. To the righteous of this time the prophet appeals; "Seek ye 
the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judg- 
ment ; seek righteousness, seek meekness : it may be ye shall be hid 
in the day of the Lord's anger." Zephaniah 2 13. These plagues are 
poured out upon the wicked alone. See Revelation 16 : 2, 6, 11. 

When the plagues of God were poured out on Egypt, the dwelling- 
place of the children of Israel was free from them. In this last great 
outpouring of the plagues of God's wrath, the dwelling-places of His 
people will also be free, for the almighty God will spare and hide 
them. For the divine promise by the mouth of the prophet is : — " He 
shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou 
trust : His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be 
afraid for the terror by night ; nor for the arrow that fiieth by day ; 
nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; nor for the destruc- 
tion that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and 
ten thousand at thy right hand ; but it shall not come nigh thee. 
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the 
wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even 
the Most High, thy habitation ; there shall no evil befall thee, neither 
shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Psalms 91 14-10. 




San Francisco, 1868 



"And there shall be famines, and 
pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers 
places." Matthew 24 : 7. 



Earthquakes occur in direct fulfillment of our Saviour's proph- 
ecy as quoted in this text. Like the other calamities which have 
come upon the earth, we may expect that they will become more fre- 
quent and destructive as we near the end. History informs us that 
such has been the case, as shown by the following significant and im- 
portant facts : — 

From b. c. 1700 to a. d. 96, a period of 1,796 years, we read of 
only sixteen earthquakes, making an average of one in 112 years. 

From a. d. 96 to a. d. 1850, a period of 1,754 years, about the 
same length of time as given in the first period, 
there were 204 earthquakes, giving one to every 
uOP^Hto eight years. 

" |l,Ji * From 1850 to 1865, a period of fifteen years, 

there were fifteen earthquakes, or one for each year. 

From 1865 to 1868, a period of three years, 
there were fifteen earthquakes, or an average of five 
for each year. 

Professor Fuchs states that in the year 1885 
there occurred 97 earthquakes, and that there were 
104 during the year 1886. 

Prof. Harry Fielding Reid, of John Hopkins 
University, special expert in charge of U. S. Geo- 

logical Survey, in a private letter to the author of 

this book, under date of Nov. 19, 1910, states that 
the list of felt earthquakes for 1903, published in 
Germany, and the lists of 1904 and 1905, published 
by the International Seismographical Association, 
each record in the neighborhood of four thousand 
earthquakes, and of course they are not complete. 

Chamber's Encyclopedia says, " It is estimated 
that 13,000,000 people have perished by earth- 
quakes." 

The Christian Statesman of July 17, 1875, says : 

[277] 




Wreck of Cathedral Tower at 
Manila, in Earthquake of 1880 



278 



'The: coming king 



Table of Earthquakes 
in the United States 
from 1872 to 1885.* 
''2 18 

1873 27 

1874 20 

1875 33 

1876 20 

1877 33 

" "! 29 

[879 19 

> 29 

1881 52 

1882 41 

; 39 

1884 42 

i 51 



14 years, 453 
Average, 32.4 per year. 

*Statistics are not 
available to bring this 
table up to date, but 
in the light of Prof. 
Reid's statement on 
page 277, we cannot 
doubt that the in- 
crease in the number 
of recorded earth- 
quakes since 1885 has 
been very large. 



1 ' The continual occurrence and great severity of earth- 
quakes have distinguished the period in which we are 
now living above all others, since the records of such 
phenomena began to be generally perceived." 

D. T. Taylor, in " The Coming Earthquake," states 
that in the single year of 1868, over 100,000 persons per- 
ished by earthquakes. In January, 1869, there were 
eleven earthquakes, two of them great and destructive. 

Referring to the great earthquake of 1868, Zell's Cy- 
clopedia says that in the Sandwich Islands and on the 
west coast of South America, it was one of the most de- 
structive recorded in history. From Callao to Iquique 
the whole coast of Peru was destroyed. Immense tidal 
waves swept the coast. It is calculated that 30,000 per- 
sons perished in South America in this earthquake. 

The catalogue of the British Society mentions more 
than 600 earthquakes between the years 1606 and 1872. 

Among the most violent in the United States may 
be mentioned the one which occurred in the years 
1811-12, the facts in regard to which are taken from 
" Great Events of the Greatest Century." 
This earthquake was felt along the Mississippi River, from the 
mouth of the Ohio to that of the St. Francis, a distance of about three 
hundred miles. Thence it swept eastward, and died along the shores 
of the Atlantic. This may be described 
as a series of earthquakes ; for the first 
shock was felt in December, 181 1, and 
the last in February, 1812, thus cover- 
ing a period of over two months. 

The water of the Mississippi River, 
which was tolerably clear before, 
changed to a reddish hue from the mud 
thrown up from the 
bottom. Wide fis- 
sures opened along 
the shore, and, 
closing again , threw 
water and mud 
higher than the 

tops of the trees. ^w^dH -"'^ fii|3^1fc This was the greatest 
Boatmen pushed * 3#g55g*££; l^Zf^^S 

off from the shore the city of Lisbon in ruins, 

killing 50,000 people in that city. It shook the whole Spanish 
to avoid the peril coast and demolished 2,000 houses in Mitylene and the Archi-- 

pelago. Property valued at more than $27,000,000 was lost. This 

was followed by pestilence, which carried off more than 150,000 

people in Constantinople.'' 




EARTHQUAKES 



on the land, and many of them were overwhelmed in the surging, 
foaming waters, which sometimes rose and fell several feet in a few 
moments. Others were carried inland by the rising waters, and were 
left high and dry when they receded. 

Severe shocks have been felt in California, prominent among 
which were those of 1865 and 1868, the latter being particularly 
destructive. 

A severe earthquake visited Charleston, S. C, in 1886, in which 
forty persons lost their lives, and $5, 000,000 worth of property was 
destroyed. 

Disastrous Earthquake in California 

There have been other earthquakes causing greater loss of life, 




San Francisco Fire 



but one of the most destructive to property ever known was the great 
California earthquake of April 18, 1906. 

This earthquake was confined to the coast counties of Central Cali- 
fornia, with San Jose as the center of disturbance. The principal 
damage done by it was in Napa and Sonoma Valleys, north of San 
Francisco, and the Santa Clara, Pajaro, and Salinas Valleys, south of 
San Francisco, together with the hills of the Inner Coast Range, ex- 
tending from San Francisco to Monterey. The principal cities and 
towns affected were San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Rosa, and San Jose. 
The smaller towns of Santa Clara, Los Gatos, Gilroy, Palo Alto, Santa 
Cruz, Monterey, Watsonville, Pacific Grove, Salinas, Hollister, Red- 
wood City, Mountain View, and Healdsburg also suffered severely. 

The damage to property in San Jose amounted to about five mil- 
lions of dollars. Nineteen lives were lost in that city. At Agnew's 
Asylum, a few miles to the north in the same county, no patients 
perished in the collapse of the buildings. 



28o 



THE COMING KING 



Santa Rosa, a city of about ten thousand people, suffered severely. 
About fifty lives were lost, and the destruction of property was very 
heavy, fire following the earthquake. 

In the Sonoma Valley nearly all the towns were destroyed. Not 
one building was left standing in Sebastopol. Leland Stanford Uni- 
versity at Palo Alto suffered severely, the damage being estimated at 
$4, 000,000. 

But the most terrible destruction both of life and property was at 
San Francisco, the metropolis of the State. As nearly as can be es- 
timated, the property loss was $350,000,000, while the loss of life has 
been placed at only 452. That it was not greater was owing, no doubt, 
to the fact that the earthquake occurred at an early hour in the morn- 
ing, before the people were astir, and before the offices and business 
houses in the down town sections, which suffered most severely from 
the earthquake, were occupied by the forces employed there. 

The earthquake proved but the beginning and much the least 
destructive part of the disaster. Fire quickly followed, and raged for 
three days before it was brought under control. An area approxi- 
mately four miles square was burned over, being practically the entire 
business part of San Francisco, together with many residences, inclu- 
ding the homes of the millionaires on Nob Hill. 

Earthquake in Chili 

While the horror of San Francisco's disaster was still fresh in the 
public memory, cable despatches from Chili reported that a similar 
catastrophe had befallen Valparaiso, a city of 160,000 inhabitants, and 
the most flourishing port of Western South America. There were two 
distinct and terrific shocks, the second following almost instantly 
after the first, and completing the work of destruction. At eight 
o'clock the whole city seemed suddenly to swing backward and for- 
ward, and then came a sudden jolt of such 
mighty force that buildings toppled to the 
earth as if made of brittle plaster, whole rows 
going- down in a few seconds. 

At Valparaiso the 
rumble of the first 
two shocks lasted 
about three minutes. 
Then followed four 
other shocks in quick 
succession. The elec- 
tric lights went out, 
the gas mains were 

Valparaiso, Destroyed by Earthquak? 





EARTHQUAKES 



28l 



broken, but the 
frightened people 
could see in the 
dusk the massive 
stone walls of the 
houses swaying and 
lurching like ships 
in a heavy sea. One 
edifice after another 
caved in, burying 
many of the occu- 
pants who had been 
unable to make their way to the streets. Fires started in various 
parts of the city, until it appeared from the harbor like a seething fur- 
nace, the ruins standing up blackly against the red glare. In a short 
time the entire business district of the city was in ruins. The water 
front began to sink, carrying down with it the stone docks and great 
warehouses, the extent of which emphasized the commercial import- 
ance of Valparaiso. 

Santiago and other smaller cities also suffered severely from this 
same earthquake. It is estimated that a thousand lives were lost in 
Valparaiso and Santiago, and that the money loss would exceed 
$250,000,000, a much larger sum in proportion to the ability of the 
people to bear it than the loss suffered in San Francisco. 

One of the most monumental disasters of all time visited southern 
Italy and the island of Sicily at 5 : 20 o'clock, on the morning of De- 
cember 28, 1908. The most of the inhabitants were still sleeping 
when the first shock came. Nobody knows or will ever know in this 
world exactly how many lives were lost, but the number has been 
officially stated as reaching 200,000. Reggio on the southern extrem- 
ity of the Italian mainland, and Messina near the northeastern extrem- 
ity of Sicily, suffered the most, though there was much loss of life and 
destruction of property over an area of nearly fifteen hundred square 
miles. A tidal wave followed the earthquake. Many fast in the 
ruins were either drowned on the spot or were swept out to sea. 

July 11, 1909, about 200 persons were killed by an earthquake in 
southern France. On July 8 of the same year Messina, Italy, suffered 
from another shock, scarcely less severe than that of December 28 of 
the previous year. July 8, 1909, parts of India and Asiatic Russia suf- 
fered from a severe earthquake shock, which destroyed much property 
and killed a number of people. On the 15th of the same month a 
number of buildings were wrecked and several persons killed by 
earthquake in southern Greece. Fifteen days later, light earthquake 




Quilotta, Now Destroyed 



282 



THE COMING KING 



shocks were experienced in Illinois and Iowa, and on the same day an 
earthquake in southern Mexico destroyed several villages, killing 

a number of the inhabitants. 

Opinion of 

Religious Papers 

The editor of a religious 
weekly paper published in 
the heart of the California 
earthquake district, says : — 

"These are days when 
the world has nearly forgot- 
ten God. . . . God has not 
forgotten those who have for- 
gotten Him. He is endeav- 
oring to bring the world to 
its senses, and to teach men 
the lesson upon which their 
eternal welfare depends. 

"These destructive agen- 
cies are becoming alarmingly 
active, and the fact should 
cause sober reflections in the 
minds of thinking people. 
The word of God will throw 
light on the situation to those 
who seek light from that 
source. It is the hour of 
God ' s j udgment. The divine 
judgments are in the land, 
and the work of judgment 
must become more and more 
marked until the climax of 
God's controversy with sin 
in the earth is reached, and 
the day comes of the visible appearing of the Son 
of man in the clouds of heaven with His angels, 
to reap the harvest of the earth." 

Certainly there is in all this something very 
suggestive of the words of the prophet : — 

" The earth is utterly broken down, the earth 
is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceed- 
ingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a 
drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage ; 
. . . and it shall fall, and not rise again. And it 
shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall 
punish the hosts of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of 




cuers at cuorlj 



EARTHQUAKES 



283 



the earth upon the earth. . . . Then the moon shall be confounded, 
and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount 
Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously." Isaiah 
24 : 19-23. 

The editor of the New York Witness, said : — 

' ' It is not pleasant writing to recount the horrors that have come 
upon the human race ; yet there are times when it is in order, and 
now appears to me to be the occasion. 

' ' The terrible catastrophe in California is upon the lips of most 
people. It will be a seven days' wonder, and will then give way in 
the minds of the people at large to some other strange occurrence." 



Jesus says : " All these things are the beginning of sorrows." 

The sure word of prophecy informs us that just before the coming 
of our Lord from heaven, there will be an earthquake more awful 
than any that has been experienced since the ' ' fountains of the deep 
were broken up " at the flood. In this calamity the whole earth will 
be involved. " The foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is 
utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved 
exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and 
shall be removed like a cottage." Isaiah 24 : 18-20. 

The apostle-prophet John says of this earthquake : " There was 
a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, 
so mighty an earthquake, and so great." "And every island fled 
away, and the mountains were not found." Revelation 16 : 18, 20. 

Very many texts in the Bible refer to this terrific convulsion 
which takes place in connection with the great day. Here is one pas- 
sage : "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice 
from Jerusalem ; and the heavens and the earth shall shake : but the 
Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children 
of Israel." Joel 3 : 16. On this point read carefully Ezekiel 39 : 19, 20. 

May we have made our peace with God so that we may be ' ' hid 
in the day of the Lord's anger." May ours be the experience foretold 
by David of this time : "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten 
thousand at thy right hand ; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only 
with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked." 
Psalms 91:7, 8. 




In connection with the consideration of earthquakes, we can 
very appropriately present the matter of the ever increasing volcanic 
action, now becoming so pronounced as to be the subject of careful 
and continuous scientific inquiry. 

Peter, speaking of the scoffers that should arise in the latter days, 
deriding the argument that the end of the world is drawing nigh, 
says : " For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word of 
God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water 
and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed 
with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, 
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day 
of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3 : 5-7. 

This destruction of the world by water is used by the apostle as a 
symbol of the impending destruction by fire ; which the word of God 
assures us is certainly coming. In the account of the deluge we are 
told that "the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the 
windows of heaven were opened." Genesis 7. Not only did rain 
descend from above, but the waters stored in the bowels of the earth 
[284] 



VOLCANOES 



285 



burst forth, thus adding to the terrible force of the deluge and com- 
pletely changing the face of nature. Therefore we must believe that 
the Lord will not only rain fire from heaven, even as He did upon 
Sodom and Gomorrah, but fires will also burst forth from the interior 
of the earth. 

Something of this kind would seem to be foreshadowed by Isaiah 
34 : 9 : "The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust 
thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning 
pitch." The previous verse declares that this is a description of "the 
day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the con- 
troversy of Zion." 

Vesuvius 

In Southern Italy, ten miles E. S. B. from the city of Naples, 
stands the huge volcanic mountain known as Mt. Vesuvius, rising 
2,300 feet above the level of the sea, with formerly a cone 1,900 feet 
tall, giving a total height of 4,200 feet above sea level. During me- 
dieval times, Vesuvius was looked upon as being the "opening of 
hell." It had been in eruption in a. d. 63, which is the first record we 
have of this volcano. But as time passed Vesuvius became again in- 
habited. 

In a. D. 79, without warning, steam, smoke, fire, and ashes burst 
from Vesuvius. The cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were slowly 
smothered out of sight. 

Another eruption occurred in A. D. 223, another in a. d. 473, and 
nine others from that time on to a. d. 1500. Since the last date there 
have been many eruptions with serious results. 

Notwithstanding the warning contained in the awful destruction 
visited upon Pompeii and Herculaneum and their adjacent villages, 
and ignoring the continued warning furnished by frequent eruptions, 
the people again clustered around the base of Vesuvius and even built 
their homes and planted their vineyards upon his very sides. All 
danger seemed to be forgotten. 

But in 1902, notes of warning were again heard from Vesuvius, 
and again in February, 1906. At these eruptions, the ashes in ever 
increasing quantities, darkened the sky and filled the air with suffo- 
cating fumes, while lava streams swept on and on towards the doomed 
villages, and the city of Bosco Trecase with its 10,000 inhabitants. 
The terrified people hastily abandoned their homes and fled. On 
Saturday, the 7th, the city was destroyed. 

The great loss of life in the destruction of Bosco Trecase and 
Ottajan was due to the vast fall of ashes crushing in the roofs of the 
houses. It is estimated that fully 5,000 houses were destroyed in this 



286 



THE COMING KING 




Ou/£ne of the crater of JfraA^ztoa, a~s 
Ur us cut the present turu> The 
dirte LrvcLLcaXe~s the joocfiorvs b to urn, 
au/ay in, the Oic£6u*;s£* o/Slcufugt, 2093. 



way, many of the people being buried with them. Another sickening 
scene of horror was seen at San Guiseppe, when the roof of the market 
house caved in from the weight of ashes upon it, burying some 200 
persons in the ruins. 

The total estimated loss of life in this eruption of Vesuvius is 
placed at 2,000 persons, and the loss in property at not less than 
$20,000,000. 

Krakatoa, in the Strait of Sun da 

The most disastrous volcanic eruption known to recent times was 
that of Krakatoa, a small volcanic island in the Sunda Strait, between 

Java and Sumatra. This erup- 
tion occurred upon the night 
of August 26-27, 1883. According 
to the "New International Ency- 
clopaedia," art. "Krakatoa," "a 
mass of rock material, estimated at 
more than a cubic mile, was thrown 
into the air in the form of lapilli 
and dust by a succession of explo- 
sions that were heard at a great dis- 
tance." "A series of gigantic sea 
waves was also generated, and 
these caused great loss of life." 
"The total loss of life probably 
exceeded 30,000, one authority es- 
timating it at 36,380." 

The Mount Pelee Disaster 

One of the most terrible disas- 
ters due to volcanic eruption oc- 
curred May 12, 1902, by the sud- 
den bursting asun- 
der of Mount Pelee, 
on the Island of 
Martinique, Wind- 
ward Islands. Be- 
tween this moun- 
tain and the bay 
was St. Pierre, a 
city of 30,000 in- 
habitants. Not one 
actually in the city 




Volcano, Island of Krakotoa 



VOLCANOES 



287 



at the time of the disaster was left to describe the horror of the scene. 
Thirty thousand souls were in a moment ushered into eternity, over- 
taken by the destroyer, some in their quiet homes, some in the marts 
of the business quarters, and some — alas, in the haunts of vice. 

Many of the descriptions of this scene, though vivid, and doubt- 
less accurate as far as they go, fail of mentioning one important fea- 
ture of the Mt. Pelee disaster, namely, the combustible gases, which 




Volcanic Eruption of Mt. Pelee, St. Pierre, Martinique, May 12, 19C2 



coming out of the mountain spread over the city and bay, enveloping 
in their deadly embrace both city and shipping. 

The Elements Shall Melt 

The destructive work of explosive gases at the eruption of Pelee 
is most suggestive of the time foretold by the Apostle Peter (2 Peter 
3 :io), when "The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and 
the elements shall melt with fervent heat." 

Of the condition of the earth following this time of universal de- 
struction, the prophet says : " From generation to generation shall it 
lie waste. ... He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and 
the stones of emptiness." Isaiah 34 : 10, 11. 

Who can hear of, and read about, these awful calamities, and not 
realize that God is, in mercy, warning all to flee from the wrath to 
come, while yet probation shall be extended to them? 




Storms and Tidal Waves 



" Stormy wind fulfilling His word." Psalms 148 : 8. 
" And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the 
moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth 
distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea and 
the waves roaring." Luke 21 : 25. 



Ue moving 
the 



Along with the other calamities which 
are coming upon the earth as the "day of 
the Lord ' ' draws near, we may naturally ex- 
pect, according to the prophecy, to see dis- 
astrous storms by land and sea. We have 
only to look at the long list of terrible tor- 
nadoes and the awful tidal waves, as reported 
in the public press from time to time, to see 
that we are already in a period of disaster 
from these causes, such as the history of 
the world has never before known. 



Cyclones 

The late T. De Witt Talmage, in a sermon on the "Wonders of 
the Day," delivered in 1883, said : — 

" Look at the cyclones — the disastrous cyclones. At the mouth 
of the Ganges are three islands, — the Hattia, the Sundeep, and the 
Decan Shahbaspoor. In the midnight of October, 1876, the cry on all 
those three islands was, 4 The waters ! the waters ! ' A cyclone arose 
and rolled the sea over those three islands, and of a population of 
340,000, 215,000 were drowned, only those being saved who had 
climbed to the tops of the highest trees. Did you ever see a cyclone ? 
No ? I pray God you may never see one. 

" But a few weeks ago I was in Minnesota, where there was one 
of those cyclones on land, that swept the city of Rochester from its 
[288] 



STORMS AND TIDAL WAVES 289 



foundations, and took dwelling-houses, barns, men, women, children, 
horses, and cattle, and tossed them into indiscriminate ruin. It lifted 
a rail train, and dashed it down, a mightier hand than that of the engi- 
neer on the air-break. Cyclone in Kansas within a few months, cy- 
clone in Missouri, cyclone in Wisconsin, cyclone in Illinois, cyclone 
in Iowa. Satan, prince of the power of the air, never made such cy- 
clonic disturbances as he has in our day. And am I not right in say- 
ing that one of the characteristics of the time in which we live is 
disasters cyclonic? " 

Satan is "the prince of the power of the air." Ephesians 2 12. 
He delights to bring calamity upon the earth. His efforts in this di- 
rection will be much greater, and the destruction more awful, as we 
near the end. John says of this : " Woe to the iuhabiters of the earth 
and of the sea ! for the devil is come down unto you, having great 
wrath, because he knoweththat he hath but a short time." Revela- 
tion 12 : 12. 

So long as God has a work to do on the earth, and a people to gather 
from among its nations, the wrath of Satan will be restrained. But 
Paul says that the people living in the last days " shall wax worse and 
worse." As man rejects God, His Spirit and restraining power are 
withdrawn from the earth, and Satan will have more power to work 
his own wicked will. 

This principle is brought out in the history of Job. The devil 
complained that God had " made an hedge about him, and about his 
house, and about all that he hath on every side." Job 1 : 10. But 
when the Lord removed His protection, and allowed Satan to work 
his will upon Job, the mighty leader of the fallen angels marshaled 
his forces to destroy him and all his possessions. These servants of 
Satan, which were at his call, were not only the wicked bands of the 
Sabeans and the Chaldeans, but also the fire from heaven, and the 
wind from the wilderness. 

We little realize what we owe to God for the protection he has 
given us all our lives. When this protection is finally and fully re- 
moved, as it soon will be, then Satan will bring upon this earth the 
direst calamities. Already he has begun his work, and the world 
stands appalled at the awful havoc wrought. 

Tidal Waves 

The tidal waves which have swept over different parts of the earth 
seem, if possible, more terrible than the cyclone, though somewhat 
less frequent. One of them in the South Pacific is thus described by 
a British vice-consul : — 

"What a sight ! I saw all the vessels in the bay carried out irre- 
19 



290 



THE COMING KING 



sistibly to sea ; anchors and chains were as packthread. In a few 
minutes the great outward current stopped, stemmed by a mighty 
rising wave, I should judge about fifty feet high, which came with an 
awful rush y carrying everything before it in its terrible majesty, 
bringing the shipping with it, sometimes turning in circles, as if 
striving to elude their fate." 

October 23, 1910, that section of country adjacent to Mt. Vesuvius, 
in Italy, was visited by a triple phenomenon apparently without par- 
allel. This was nothing less than a volcanic eruption, a tornado, and 
a tidal wave all occurring simultaneously, and occasioning great de- 
struction of property and considerable loss of life. 

God's word points out an unprecedented hail storm which will 
break in its fury upon the earth : ' ' And there fell upon men a great 
hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent [about 100 
pounds] : and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail." 

This is the last of the "seven last plagues." "And then shall 
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the 
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming 
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ' ' Matthew 24 : 30. 

Cyclone at St. Louis, Mo., May 27, 1896 

Among the most disastrous storms of a cyclonic nature which ever 
visited the United States was the one which swept over the city of St. 
Louis, Mo., May 27, 1896. It approached in two successive waves, as 
though they were parts of a mighty army under control of one com- 
mander, the second wave exceeding in intensity of force and in de- 
structive power the one preceding it. It left the city with more than 
200 human lives crushed out, and $50,000,000 in property destroyed. 




First came a hurricane, ac- 
companied by a mighty downpour 
of rain, lasting twenty minutes, 
flooding the streets and cellars. 
There was an interval of a few 
minutes of rest, and then followed 



Lafayette Park Presbyterian Church 



a terrific tornado, 
lasting but a few 
minutes, but dur- 
ing that short 
time the city was 
so changed that 
it was hardly rec- 
ognizable. The 
trees in the park 



STORMS AND TIDAL WAVES 2gi 




The Storm at Eads Bridge 



were swept away like grass before the mower's 
scythe, one park having only six trees left. 
The strongly built and palatial residences of 
the wealthy were torn in pieces the same as 
the tenements of the poor. 
School houses, hospitals, rail- 
way stations, churches, manu- 
facturing establishments, — 
everything alike was torn, 
wrecked, unroofed, or demol- 
ished, and all drenched with 
blinding streams of water, 
which came down as though 
the very windows of heaven 
were opened. "If anything 
was passed by comparatively unharmed," said one newspaper corres- 
pondent, "it seemed to be more like a freak of some malevolent spirit 
than a lack of power to destroy." 

The air was full of flying debris of all kinds. Objects weighing 
tons were hurled through the air apparently as easily as those weighing 
but a few pounds. The streets were blocked to travel, and a network 
of tangled wires from the fallen telegraph and telephone poles was 
spread over all. 

Fire broke out in many places, and as the firemen were powerless 
to help, nothing but the rain which fell in torrents saved the city from 
entire destruction. The boats and river craft of all kinds, exposed to 
the fury of the blast, were dismantled, overturned, and sunk, carrying 
their crews down into a watery grave. The terrible force of the wind 
may be seen in the fact that the eastern approach to the great Kads 
Bridge, a structure of stone and steel intended to last for all time, was 
wrecked by the storm, the steel railings being blown entirely away. 

No tongue can tell, no pen record, the terrors of those few min- 
utes and the night of horror that followed. The dead were every- 
where. The wounded, many of them covered by fallen buildings or 
held down by timbers and other debris, cried piteously for help. Dis- 
tracted people sought for their friends. The mourning for the dead 
and the joy of reunited families were often strangely mingled. 

In this case, as in many others, we see the " stormy wind fulfilling 
His word," and we may hope and trust that while the judgments of 
God are in the earth, some at least of the inhabitants of the world 
will learn righteousness. See Isaiah 26 : 9. 

Cyclone at Bradshaxv, Neb., June 13, 1890 

As an illustration of the cyclones which so frequently visit some 



THE COMING KING 




sections of the 
United States, 
one which oc- 
curred June 13, 
1890, b y which 
the village of 
Bradshaw, Neb., 
was destroyed, 
may be noted. 



^^^^^ ^^5=* ^ The town was 

a complete wreck, only three buildings remained 
standing in the village of four hundred and fifty inhabitants. The 
track of this cyclone was about one-fourth of a mile wide. 

Tidal Waves in Japan 

In the island empire of Japan earthquakes are frequent. These 
are generally accompanied by tidal waves, and as there is a large 
amount of coast line, with many small and low-lying islands, all 
densely populated, the loss of life from this cause is often very great. 
The whole group of the Japanese islands is of volcanic origin, and the 
mighty internal force which gave the islands existence still operates 
in a way to bring great calamities upon the people. In 1SS2 the sea 
washed away whole towus, and thousands of persons were destroyed. 
But the crowning disaster to Japan in modern times was experienced 
June 15, 1S96. (See chapter heading.) The tidal wave strrck the 
coast in its greatest force at the town of Kamaishi, about three hun- 
dred miles north of Tokyo. Thirty miles of coast line were swept by 
the mighty wall of water, and for this distance all signs of human 
habitation were destroyed as far inland as the wave extended. Thirty 
thousand persons perished at this time. 

Hurricane and Tidal Wave at Galveston, Texas 

Galveston is the chief Gulf city of the Southwest. Its population 
at the time of the awful visitation was 37,798. There had been pro- 
vided on the Gulf side two stone breakwaters, but the time came when 
these proved entirely inadequate to protect the city from the fury of 
the sea. 

Toward evening of the 8th of September, 1900, a tide of five feet 
brought the waters of the Gulf within one foot of the surface of the 
island. This was followed by a hurricane in which it is estimated 
that the wind attained a velocity of 120 miles an hour. 

As a result of this high wind a tidal wave swept the island to a 



STORMS AND TIDAL WAVES 



293 



depth of from six to eight feet. House after house fell with a crash 
into the boiling flood. In the course of a few hours the once rich and 
beautiful city was reduced to a heap of ruins. Scarcely 
a house in the entire place escaped injury or destruc- 
tion. No record will 
ever be made of the 
dead of Galveston. It 
is certain, however, 
that a very large part 
of the population per- 
ished. The loss of 
property can never 
be known. An esti- 
mate of $50,000,000 
is considered con- 
servative. 

A new city has 
sprung up in the 
place of the old, and 

everything that mechanical engineering can do in the way of providing 
an adequate sea wall and raising the level of the city, has been done. 
The protection is now considered ample, but even the strongest wall 
must fail "when the Lord arises to shake terribly the earth." 




After the Galveston Hurricane and Tidal Wave 



Typhoon at Hongkong 

In the Far East storms similar to the "cyclones" and "torna- 
does" of the West, are known as "typhoons." These are quite 
common, especially in the China Sea. One of the most noted of these 
is thus described by the Literary Digest : — 

"To the year's [1906] list of staggering calamities, due to sudden 
and unforeseen manifestations of natural forces — a list already som- 
ber enough with its records of earthquake at San Francisco and at Val- 
paraiso — must 
b e added the 
death-dealing 
typhoon which 
swept down 
upon Hongkong 
with mysterious 
suddenness o n 
September 18." 
This typhoon 
was local. 

Scenes after Hongkong Typhoon 




294 



THE COMING KING 



"Although it lasted only two hours it sank a fishing fleet of 600 
junks, destroyed nearly all the native shipping in the harbor, and 
wrought havoc among the docks and buildings of the water-front. 
Estimates place the loss of life among the Chinese alone at 10,000, 
and it is said that $20,000,000 would not cover the value of the prop- 
erty destroyed." 

It is stated that during a typhoon the wind sometimes reaches a 
velocity of from 200 to 300 miles an hour. 

Hurricane and Tidal Wave at Pensacola 

September 26, 1906, Pensacola, Fla., was visited by the worst 
storm it had experienced in 175 years. The waters of the sea rose 
eight and one-half feet above normal. The wind attained a velocity 
of 90 miles an hour. The tides from the bay backed up into the city, 
destroying homes and turning the streets into seething rivers. When 
the storm commenced there were between fifty and sixty large steam- 
ers and sailing vessels lying in the harbor. When the hurricane sub- 
sided there were only five or six. The remainder had been beached, 
driven ashore, and piled up in a mass of wreckage. 

Among the wrecks were several gunboats and other government 
vessels, nothing being able to withstand the force of the elements. 
Great iron steamships of 3,000 tons burden were driven ashore, one 
crashed through houses a block from the wharf, while every house 
for miles along the water-front was destroyed. While the storm was 
at its height, fire broke out in close proximity to the business district. 
So terrible was the storm that the fire department horses refused to 
leave their stalls and face the weather, and the firemen were obliged 
to pull the hose carts by hand. 

Every business house from the wharf on Chalifoux Street to the 
Union Depot was unroofed, every window broken. Two entire freight 
trains, with their ponderous engines, were washed from the track and 
buried deep in the sand. Nor was the destruction confined to a lim- 
ited area. Enormous damage to life and property was done at several 
of the army forts and naval stations at various points along the south- 
eastern Atlantic coast. 

Hurricane and Tidal Wave at Mobile 

On September 28, 1906, a terrific hurricane swept up the Gulf 
Coast and centered upon Mobile Bay, driving the waters of the bay in 
a wall against the city. For hours the business district was covered 
by seven feet of water, the streets were awash with goods swept from 
the warehouses, and hundreds of bales of cotton were carried away by 



STORMS AND TIDAL WAVES 295 



the waves. All the wharves along the city-front were total wrecks. 
Eight steamers and river boats were sunk without a trace. Sixty- 
lives were lost, and 
five thousand build- 
ings were wrecked or 
damaged. The pro- 
perty loss was esti- 
mated at |3,ooo,ooo. 

For twenty -five 
miles north of Mobile 
the country was com- 
pletely inundated. 
The fruit trees, the 
cotton, and sugar 
cane, and other crops 
all over Southern 
Alabama and Mississippi were ruined, causing 
great loss and hardship to the farmers of that vast section. 

West Indies and Florida 

A storm notable both for its power and for the territory which it 
covered, swept over a portion of the West Indies and almost all of 
Florida October 14-17, 1910. The loss of life was not so great in this 
storm as in some of smaller geographical proportions. It was not a 
tornado, but a hurricane, the wind in some places attaining a velocity 
of ninety miles an hour. In Florida buildings were unroofed or blown 
down ; forest and shade trees were uprooted ; fruit trees denuded of 
their unripe fruit and were themselves twisted and broken by the 
angry wind. Many growers of citrus fruits lost almost their entire 
crop besides having their groves badly damaged. During this storm 
many islands were swept by a tidal wave. Small settlements were 
wiped out of existence, and many residents saved themselves by 
climbing into trees. Crops were ruined, business houses wrecked and 
many perished in the floods, and much shipping was destroyed. 

With each passing year typhoons, tornadoes, and hurricanes 
seem to become more and more terrific and destructive, the "prince 
of the power of the air" being permitted to marshal, more and more 
forcibly, these elements as weapons of destruction, as " the great day 
of God" approaches, and the Spirit of the Lord is more fully with- 
drawn from the earth. This leaves Satan almost unchecked to carry 
out his plans and desires for the destruction of life and property. 




Wars and Rumors of Wars 



And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars." Matthew 24 : 6. 



The Saviour describing the condition of the world previous to 
His second coming, declares that there shall be " wars and rumors of 
wars," and that "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom 
against kingdom." Matthew 24:6, 7. This would indicate that, as 
the time draws near for the return of the Lord, the nations of earth 
will be making unusually great preparations for war. 

The world has been a great battle-field, where the strong and the 
weak have contended for the mastery. Nations have arisen by battle 
and blood, held sway by the sword, and gone down the same way they 
arose. Time has not changed the hearts of men, and as nations have 
done in the past, so they are doing and preparing to do with greater 
intensity than ever before. As we look upon the world to-day, we 
cannot but be impressed with the remarkable preparations for war 
that are in progress, which far exceed anything ever before known in 
the history of the race. 

Beginning with the French Revolution in 1789, and ending with 
the battle of Waterloo in 1814, Europe passed through the Napoleonic 
wars, which were the most terrible ever known in her history. But 
the armies and the preparations for war in Europe at the present time 
are on a scale far exceeding anything known in Europe at that time. 
Napoleon fought many of his most famous battles with an army that 
in European eyes to-day would appear ridiculously small. At the 
battle of Austerlitz, where he gained one of his most famous victories, 
his army numbered but 75,000 men. His great campaign in Russia 
was undertaken with an army of 450,000 men. At the battle of Leip- 
sic, called "The Battle of the Nations," there were 136,000 French 
opposed to 230,000 allied troops. Napoleon's last battle, at Waterloo, 
[296] 



WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 



297 




was fought with only about 75,000 men. How small these ar- 
mies seem in comparison with the armies of to-day ! Of the five 
great continental powers of Europe, — France, Russia, Germany, Aus- 
tria-Hungary, and Italy, — each one of them has a standing army of 
about 1,000,000 men, and upon necessity the 
whole male population able to bear arms can 
be sent into the field. 

Great Britain is equally well prepared for 
war, for while her regular army num- 
bers only 250,000 men, her navy is 
equal to the navies of any two other 
nations. The fleets of all the great 
powers are con- 
tinually being 
increased, and 
it is a well- 
known fact 
that more than 
seventy-five per 
cent, of all the 
revenues of the 
leading nations 
is expended in 
warlike prepa- 
rations. 

The smaller 
powers of Eu- 
rope have 
caught the 
same spirit, and 
have increased 

their armies in proportion to their size and population, the same as 
the greater powers. To-day Europe is a vast camp, and the 
young men of the nations are withdrawn from peaceful pursuits 
and housed in army barracks, where in the life of the camp they re- 
ceive a training distinctly cruel and unchristian. Perhaps the great- 
est warlike preparation, in that it takes the world by surprise, that 
has been made in late years, has been that accomplished by Japan. A 
third of a century ago Japan was unknown as a military power ; to-day 
she is one of the most war-like of nations, — a nation which no Euro- 
pean power would consider a mean antagonist. In naval activity, 
while not on a par with England, she ranks with such nations as the 
United States, Germany, and France. 



British Battle-ship "Dreadnaught." The First of Its Class. 



I,ength, 520 feet. Width, 82 feet. Displacement, 18,000 tons. 
Speed, 21 knots. Armor, 11 inches. Guns, ten 12-inch ; eighteen 
3-inch. 

This ship has given the name of " Dreadnaught " to all vessels 
of its class. It has revolutionized modern warfare, and set the pace 
for the other nations. One such vessel could destroy all the navies 
of the world of twenty years ago. Among the different nations 
more than two score of these immense Dreadtiaughts are already 
built or under construction. Many of the efficient battle-ships of 
ten years ago are said to be now only fit for the junk heap. The 
"Oregon," famed for her trip from San Francisco during the Spanish 
war was, ten years ago, considered one of the best battle-ships of 
her day. But she has a displacement of only 10,288 tons, and only 
four big guns. She is, with many others of even greater size and 
capacity, outclassed and out of date. 



298 



THE COMING KING 



Following the example of Japan, and under her tutelage, China 
too is rapidly forging to the front as a war-like nation. Whereas her 
war with Japan found her without either modern military organization 
or effective weapons, to-day she has a thoroughly drilled, well-equip- 
ped army, and the nucleus of a modern navy ; both officered either by 

Europeans or by Chinese ed- 
ucated and trained in Euro- 
pean or American schools 
and methods. 

What does it mean that 
these heathen nations de- 
velop so suddenly into mili- 
tary powers of such great 
strength ? Is it not because 
they are preparing for the 
last act of the great drama 
of the world's history ? The 
prophet Joel, look- 
ing to this time, ex- 




The latest response of the United States 
to the British Dreadnaught. 

I,ength, 521^ feet. "Width. 88 feet 2% inches. 
Draft, 28^2 feet. Displacement, 21,825 tons. I*oad 
displacement. 23,000 tons. Horsepower, 28. 000. Pro- 
pellers, 4-screw Parsons turbines. Speed, 26.75 
knots. Coal, 2,500 tons. Oil fuel, 400 tons. Armor: 
Belt, 11 inches; turrets, 12 inches. Armament: 
Ten 12-inch ; sixteen 5-inch guns. Torpedo tubes, 
2 twenty-one inch. Complement of men, 1,014. 

claimed, "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake 
up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near ; let them come 
up : beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into 
spears : let the weak say, I am strong. . . . Let the heathen be 
awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat : for there will 
I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for 
the harvest is ripe." Joel 3 :9-i3- 

The Revelator, describing the same time, says: "The nations 
were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that 
they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy 



WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 



299 



servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them 

w that fear Thy name, small and great ; and shouldest 

5 destroy them which destroy the earth." Revelation 
§ 11 : 18. 

n The nations are angry. They are jealous of one 

^ another, each fearing that the other will gain some 

.3 advantage in power, trade, or an increase of terri- 

? w - tory ; hence the mustering of armies and the manu- 

'S |j facture of implements of warfare with a death-dealing 

6 « capacity marvelous in accuracy and power. France 
£ £ and Germany, hating each other with intense hatred, 

•§ each has reached out for allies until Europe is divided 

gv Jq into two great opposing forces. 

«g That war between France and Germany doesn't 

& now seem so immanent as at sometimes in the past, 
has little significance. "What does it mean," asks 

m . Jji a writer in the Literary Digest of August 3, 1910, 

o m " when the German kaiser and the French president 

8 o still look ascance at each other ? ' ' He answers his 

o « own question by quoting these words from a recent 

s ^ ° French writer, M. Leroy-Beaulieu : "We can not 

j> m forget our former compatriots of Alsace-L,oraine. If 

<=> £ we were ever to forget them we should prove our- 

% ■£ selves a singularly frivolous and ungrateful people. 

z* 'g Nations like ourselves [that is like individuals] have 

iL rt no such short memories as this." The same writer 

O H 

h also complains bitterly of Germany's treatment of 

0 France in the Moroccan matter. 

1 But at present mutual jealousy and distrust be- 
£ tween England and Germany overshadow and well- 

c m nigh eclipse the centuries-old casus belli between 
J -1 ° France and Germany. By means of the navy Eng- 
§ g land has long ruled the seas. This has given her 
certain decided advantages in trade and in coloni- 
zation. Since her successful war with France, a 
third of a century ago, Germany has manifested 
quite an ambition to at least share with England the 
advantages to be secured only by a strong naval 
power. For several years she has been building 
war vessels and fitting up and fortifying naval bases 
at a rate and to such an extent as to become a dis- 
tinct menace to Great Britain. The result has been 
great suspicion and distrust between these nations. 



^ 5* 
-3 o3 



300 THE COMING KING 

Late in 1908 and early in 19 10, there appeared in the Daily Mail 
(London), a series of articles by Robert Blatchford, the brilliant 
editor of the Clarion (Socialistic), in which the German menace to 
England is dwelt upon at length and greatly emphasized. As quoted 
by the Literary Digest of January 8, 1910, Mr. Blatchford says : " The 
policy of Germany is the Bismarckian policy of deliberate and ruthless 
conquest, with world-dominion for its goal." "All Europe is to be 
Teutonized." "That is the ambition that is driving Germany into a 
war of aggression against this country." "The strongest evidence 
of Germany's designs against Britain is the German navy." 

Mr. Blachford further argues that Germany does not need her 

navy for use against France or 
Russia ; that she can use her ships 
only against England, and that " if 
we [the English] do not want war 
with Germany, we must be strong 
enough to cause Germany to want 
peace." 

The nations of Europe have 
been seized with a land hunger, 
which has led to the forcible divi- 
sion of Africa, and it is evident that 
a like exploitation and division of 
China has been prevented only by 
the influence of the United States 
in demanding ' ' the open door ' ' in 
that country, the influence of Japan 
in insisting that there must be no 
injustice done to Asiatics, and by 
the mutual jealousies of European 
nations. There is scarcely an island of the ocean, from magnificent 
Madagascar to the smallest specks of land in the Southern seas, that 
has not within the last few years been forcibly taken possession of by 
some of the European powers. Even the people of the United States 
have caught the spirit of extension and conquest, as is witnessed by 
the acquisition of Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines. 

With such a state of affairs one may expect great preparations for 
war, — may expect "wars and rumors of wars." To-day, the rumor is 
that Russia is preparing to invade Turkey ; to-morrow, that her 
mighty army will soon force the passes of the Himalaya Mountains 
and invade British India. Again, German and British hostility to- 
ward each other leads the two nations to the brink of war. At an- 
other time France and Great Britain are growling at each other over 




United States Submarine Torpedo Boat " Plunger." 



In addition to the known forces of the tre- 
mendous war ships of the day, the navies of 
the world are now menaced by the uncertain, 
and by many considered the most to be 
feared, enemies under water and in the air. 
In the early nineties inventors were present- 
ing to governments plans for submerged tor- 
pedo boats which could, unseen, approach 
the vessels of the enemy and destroy them in 
a moment with the dreaded torpedo. The 
"Plunger" represents this class of de- 
stroyers. Of this craft, in 1908, the United 
States had 19 ; Great Britain, 48 ; France, 99 ; 
Germany, 3 ; Japan, 9 ; Russia, 31 ; Italy, 6 ; 
Austria, 6. 



WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 301 



Egypt, or France and Germany about to clash over Morocco or some 
other complication in Africa. The empire of Austria-Hungary is on 
the verge of dissolution ; the debates in its parliment are transformed 
into bloody encounters between the members. Southern Germany is 
not reconciled to its subordinate position in the empire ; the socialists 
are active, and nihilism stands in the dark with a dagger, ready to 
thrust through any and every king or statesman in its way. Is it 
any wonder that under such circumstances there should be ' ' wars 
and rumors of wars ? ' ' 

The United States is affected by the prevalent spirit of these sig- 
nificant times. We have a " Monroe Doctrine," which is very offen- 
sive to some of the European powers, and its maintenance can be 
effected only by armies and ships of war. Hence a " vigorous foreign 
policy" is advocated, a strong navy is being built, and the highest 
military officers of the United States are advocating an increase of the 
army. 

It is the fixed purpose of this government to allow no European 
power not now possessing colonies in this hemisphere, to gain any 
territory on this continent, and an attempt to do so may at any time 
bring the United States into collision with some foreign, or grasping 
European power. 

Nations do not make such preparations for war without a purpose. 
A nation cannot go on always arming and never fighting. At some 
time the storm will burst in its fury, and all past wars will sink into 
insignificance before that conflict. In the last great struggle, the 
"mighty ones " of God (see Joel 3:11) will take part. Says another 
prophet : " The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters : 
but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee afar off, and shall be 
chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a roll- 
ing thing before the whirlwind." Isaiah 17 : 12, 13. 

Several times it has seemed that a general European war could 
not be avoided ; but a settlement has been speedily effected and the 
powers have again quieted down to watch one another. Why is this ? 
— for the reason that God has a work to be done in the earth. The 
angels of God are holding the winds of strife until the ' ' servants of 
our God " are "sealed." Revelation 7 : 3. 

It will not be long now, however, before "rumors of war " will be 
turned to war itself, — war, grim and terrible — and none can be safe 
except those who have made God their trust, whose hope is in another 
world than this, even the new earth, wherein shall dwell the right- 
eous. Matthew 5:5; 2 Peter 3 : 13. 

Not till then will wars cease, and peace reign on earth from the 
rising even to the setting of the sun. 




And upon the earth distress of 
nations with perplexity." 
Luke 21:25. 



A glance at the nations of the earth will make it apparent that 
a condition of distress and perplexity prevails, and that the statesmen 
of the world are greatly troubled to know how to meet the situation. 

This condition is produced, First, by withdrawing so many men 
from peaceful pursuits ; secondly, in the enormous taxation which 
follows. 

This condition dates from the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. 
France had been the first military power in Europe, but in measuring 
swords with Prussia was defeated. A vast sum of money and the two 
provinces of Alsace and L,oraine were taken by Germany. France has 
ever since been determined to regain her lost possessions. 

The rapidity with which the French nation recovered from the 
defeat of that terrible war astonished the world. 
Germany, alarmed, increased her army. Then 
France increased hers. So the race began. 
Germany made Austria an ally. Then 
the triple alliance was formed, of Ger- 
many, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. By 
the terms of this alliance these powers 
were pledged to keep up 
vast armies. France, iso- 
lated and threatened by 
all her immediate neigh- 
bors, finally formed an 
alliance with Russia. So 
the armament and the 
taxation go on. 

Another phase of the 
distress of the nations 
lies in the fact that those 
powers which are in alli- 




Dr. Gatling, 
Inventor of the 
Gatling Gun 



[30 2 ] 



This awful fighting machine is constructed 
to give continuous firing at the rate of 
1000 shots per minute. 



DISTRESS OF NATIONS 



303 




Turret of Battle-ship, Inside View 



ance distrust one another, each suspecting the others of contracting 
secret alliances. Such a strained condition of affairs can not but lead 
to distress of nations. 

Another cause of distress closely connected with the preceding is 
the dissatisfaction of vast masses of the peo- 
ples of Europe, and also, to some extent, of 
all the world, either with their 
present systems of govern- 
ment, or the way the laws are 
administered. 

At the present time, kings and priests 
are endeavoring to tighten their grip on 
the people, and the result is a spirit of 
opposition to the present conditions. The 

nihilists of Russia, the communists and anarchists of France, Spain, 
and Italy, are parts of a dissatisfied public, which sometimes hon- 
orably, and sometimes in the worst possible way, strive to bring 
about a new order of things. The feeling of unrest has crossed 
the Atlantic, and is being widely diffused throughout this coun- 
try. Thinking men, who have studied history in a way to under- 
stand its philosophy, hold that the times are similar to the years im- 
mediately preceding the French Revolution ; hence they look for 
some terrible outbreak in the near future. Unrest is universal, and 
unrest is certainly a precursor of revolution. 

"With the nations joined in alliance, burdened with debt, and still, 
by enormous preparations for war, adding debt to debt ; with universal 
jealousy pervading all nations ; with statesmen at their wits' end to 
know how to guide their ships of state past the rocks that threaten to 
crush them in pieces ; and with a restless, dissatisfied, and often re- 
bellious people, the nations of the earth at the present day are full of 
the ' ' distress ' ' which was predicted by our Lord as one of the evi- 
dences of His soon coming. 

In such days as these, happy is he whose hopes being withdrawn 
from this troubled world are placed upon Christ and His kingdom, 
which soon will take the place of all earthly kingdoms. 




New 14-inch Gun, Undergoing Test for the Navy. 
Weight of gun, 63 tons ; weight of shell, 1,400 lbs. ; powder charge, 365 lbs. 




The situation touching probable war has not changed, except to 
grow worse, for nearly or quite a third of a century. This is fully un- 
derstood, and the menace of war recognized by statesmen and military 
men everywhere. In a speech in the German Reichstag, April 24, 
1877, Field-Marshal Count von Moltke, replying to what he regarded 
as an Utopian view of the situation as it existed in his day, said : — 

"Gentlemen, I share the hope and the wish of the orator for a 
lasting peace, but I do not share his confidence. Happy will be the 
time when the states will no longer be in a position where they must 
devote the greater part of their income merely to rendering their ex- 
istence safe. . . . But, gentlemen, this lasting peace is prevented by 
mutual distrust, and in this distrust lies our greatest danger." 

In an article in McClure^s Magazine for November, 1910, Col- 
onel Richard Gadke, the great German military critic, not only 
quoted the foregoing from Count von Moltke, but whereas, the 
Field-Marshal spoke only of Europe, the Colonel says of the present 
situation, " European- American civilization stands, inwardly split and 
rent asunder, facing the dangers which threaten from its borders. . . . 
War begets Chauvanism and armaments ; armaments beget distrust ; 
and distrust, in turn, augments armaments in the same ratio as these 
increase distrust. It is a vicious circle into which the civilized world 
of our day appears inextricably to have fallen." 

Nor does Colonel Gadke stop with the attitude of ' ' European- 
American civilization," merely; he proceeds to show that Japanese 
ambition and egotism, increased a thousand fold by the victory over 
Russia, constitute a serious menace to the peace of the world. He 
quotes a Japanese naval officer as saying in an article published in the 
Annual Register of the English navy, that "whether permitted or not 
permitted [by the law of nations], Japan's insistent craving is the 
mastery of the Pacific Ocean." 
[304] 



WAR SPIRIT AND PEACE TALK 305 



Thus there is presented to us an everwidening circle of storm cen- 
ters from any one of which is liable at any time to arise a tornado of 
war that shall sweep with terriffic force from nation to nation until 
the world shall be involved in the most titanic struggle ever known. 

It is true that efforts have been made from time to time to change 
the attitude toward each other of the various nations. Peace con- 
gresses have been held at the Hague and in other cities and countries. 
A High Court of Arbitration has been established and a few minor 
questions have been submitted to it and have been decided ; but the 
efforts to inaugurate universal peace have only served to emphasize 
the impossibility of reaching this much to be desired end while human 
nature remains unchanged. The war spirit as between nations is only 
the war spirit of individuals pooled for the accomplishment of ends 
not possible of achievement by individuals. In other words, back of 
all preparation for war is the war spirit in the hearts of the people. 

The statement in the Bible, "And the nations were angry," shows 
that such a war spirit will exist, and the context shows clearly that 
this statement refers to the last days. Note these points : — 

First, "And the nations were angry." Secondly, "Thy wrath is 
come." Thirdly, "And the time of the dead, that they should be 
judged." Fourthly, "And that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy 
servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy 
name, small and great. ' ' Fifthly, "And shouldest destroy them which 
destroy the earth." Revelation 11 : 18. 

This enumeration, occurring in close connection with that of the 
anger of the nations, proves conclusively that the last days of this 
earth's history will be filled with war and unholy strife, and will not 
close in peace and safety as is fondly supposed by many. The follow- 
ing texts in parallel columns show the true situation of to-day : — 



WHAT PEACE CONGRESS IS SAYING 

"And. many people shall go and say, 
Come ye, and let us go up to the moun- 
tain of the Lord, to the house of the 
God of Jacob ; and He will teach us of 
His ways, and we will walk in His 
paths : for out of Zion shall go forth 
the law, and the word of the Lord from 
Jerusalem. And He shall judge among 
the nations, and shall rebuke many peo- 
ple : and they shall beat their swords 
into plowshares, and their spears into 
pruninghooks : nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation, neither shall they 
learn war any more." Isaiah 2:3,4. 

20 



WHAT NATIONS ARE DOING 

' ' Proclaim ye this among the Gen- 
tiles ; Prepare war, wake up the mighty 
men, let all the men of war draw near ; 
let them come up : beat your plowshares 
into swords, and your pruninghooks 
into spears : let the weak say, I am 
strong. Assemble yourselves, and 
come, all ye heathen, and gather your- 
selves together round about : thither 
cause Thy mighty ones to come down, 
O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, 
and come up to the valley of Jehosha- 
phat : for there will I sit to judge all the 
heathen round about." Joel 3:9-13. 



3o6 



THE COMING KING 



Jeremiah was given a vision of the earth in this time. He wit- 
nessed the marvelous war preparations among the nations, and in 
astonishment and fear exclaimed : — 

"My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my 
heart maketh a noise in me ; I cannot hold my peace, because thou 
hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 
Destruction upon destruction is cried ; for the whole land is spoiled : 
suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How 
long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? " 
Jeremiah 4 : 19-21. 

Verses 23-27 show that the prophet's foretold "alarm of war" 
occurs just before the coming of Christ, and the desolation of the 
earth which is to follow. 

While these pictures are not so pleasing as the people's cry of 
" peace and safety," they are the true representations of our times, 
for they are the Lord's own painting. Men talk of peace, and profess 
the most earnest love for peace even while making the greatest pos- 
sible preparations for war. 

But such talk means little, as is witnessed by the war between 
Russia and Japan, which followed within five years of the calling of 
the first Peace Congress at the Hague, by request of the Czar. 

The principal wars of recent years show the impossibility with 
human nature as it is, of adjusting all national difference by arbitra- 
tion. The Chino- Japanese War, the Spanish-American War, the Eng- 
lish-Boer War, and the Russo-Japanese War, all of recent date, show 
the utter impotency of modern civilization, and even of popular Chris- 
tianity itself, in the presence of the national war spirit, deep-seated as 
it is in human nature. It is in vain that either nations or individuals 
armed to the teeth make professions of peace. Inspiration tells the 
truth when, speaking of the time now present and extending just a 
little way into the future, it says: "The nations were angry." The 
exact situation is well described also by the words of the psalmist : 
1 ' The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in 
his heart : his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn 
swords." Psalms 55 : 21. 




in Brooklyn. 



The above denunciation re- 
ferrs to the last days, the times 
in which we are now living. The 
preceding verse, as given in the 
Revised Version, says of these 
men, " Ye have heaped treasures 
together in the last days. ' ' 



"Behold, the hire of the 
laborers who have reaped 
down your fields, which 
is of you kept back by 
fraud, crieth: and the 
cries of them which have 
reaped are entered into 
the ears of the Lord of 
sabaoth," James 5:4. 



Capital 
and Labor 



Practically these texts charge 



that those who have ' ' heaped treasures together ' ' — those who have 
gathered to themselves such colossal fortunes as we see to-day — have 
done so by fraud, and oppression of the poor. 

All wealth comes originally from the soil. The Apostle James 
uses the work of the laborer who reaps the products of the soil, as a 
type of all laborers, who by their work add to the world's wealth. 

We have but to look about us to see that these texts are to-day 
being accurately fulfilled on every side. It is not necessary for the 
student of prophecy to go farther in order to prove that we are living 
in the "last days." Never in the world's history was there such a 
heaping together of great fortunes by rich men, corporations, syndi- 
cates, and trusts as at the present time. And never, amid such plenty, 
was there such general want and suffering among the poor. 

Well says Rev. H. W. Bowman, in his " War Between Capital 
and Labor " : — 

' ' Such colossal fortunes, such hoarding of treasures, such com- 
binations of wealth, with such rapid increase of poverty, was never 
witnessed before. Our age alone fits the prophetic mold." 

It is not a crime to accumulate property ; but when this property 
is acquired through oppression, through grinding the face of the 
poor, — those who are the real producers, — then " the cries of them " 
are heard by the " Lord of sabaoth," and one day He will require a 
terrible toll from the hand of the oppressor. [307] 



3 o8 



THE COMING KING 



We are not of those who clamor for a leveling equality. The one 
whose brain institutes, and whose capital carries forward, any enter- 
prise, is entitled to his share of remuneration for the same. Still the 
workman who furnished the bone and muscle and the skilled labor 
necessary to the carrying out of these plans, are equally entitled to 
fair remuneration for what they bring into the enterprise. If this 
principle — the principle advocated in God's word — could be carried 
out, there would be fewer great fortunes, and poverty, privation, and 
suffering among the toilers of the earth would not be known. 

As an example in point may be mentioned two cotton mills that 
in the year 1880 paid their stockholders a dividend of twenty-one per 
cent., or over one-fifth of all capital invested, while their workmen 
were paid ninety cents a day. A prominent linen company, while 
paying the same wages mentioned above, one year declared a dividend 
of eighty per cent., or four-fifths of the capital invested. 

It is against such operations that the Apostle James hurls the 
denunciation that the wages of the laborer "is of you kept back by 
fraud." By no possibility can such dividends be honestly paid, while 
the laborers, who have been one great element in its production, are 
ground down to the very limit of a mere day-by-day existence. 

The book, " The Money Question," contains the following state- 
ments : — 

" Thousands of men are forced to work for as low wages as fifty 
cents a day and support their families. One dollar a day is the average 
for factory help in the Bast, while the owners clear hundreds of dollars. 
A few years ago an Eastern corporation reduced the wages of its com- 
mon laborers from $1.50 to $i.?5, while its president was receiving 
$75,000 per year, without any reduction of salary. In Massachusetts 
a large manufacturing firm reduced the wages of the largest class of its 
operatives from ninety cents a day to sixty-five cents, while the gen- 
eral manager was getting $83.00 per day without any reduction." 

This author adds : ' ' The chief grievance of the laboring classes 
to-day is the inequitable distribution of wealth, every dollar of which 
is the product of labor, either mental or muscular. The producing 
classes do not receive the proper equivalent for their toil. They reap 
down the fields for speculators ; they build railroads for capitalists ; 
they run manufacturies for corporations ; they delve in the mines for 
monopolists ; and only make barely enough to live, while their employ- 
ers amass princely fortunes from their toil. . . . 

1 ' The tendency of our age is to turn the laborer into a mere ma- 
chine, and forget that he is a man. In some manufactories the em- 
ployer would consider it degrading to speak to his hired men. These 
men, mere machines, holding their places as long as they are any 



CAPITAL AND LABOR 



309 



good, are in their old age thrown out on cold charity, when they must 
either beg or go to the poor house to end their miserable existence. 
If the laborer received his just dues from his work, he would be able 
to end his life in comfort and ease. The ambitious laborer does not 
look kindly toward such an end, and, as a result, we have the frequent 
strikes, lockouts, and labor riots, all over the civilized world. These 
all reveal the fact that the question of the just amount of wages paid 
by the employer is the chief cause of dispute between them. Here is 
the conflict, and it can never be done away with so long as circum- 
stances remain as they are at present." 

Prof. Cairnes stated the matter in almost the same language : — 

" A constant growth of the national capital maintains, with nearly 
equally constant decline in the proportio?i of capital which goes to sup- 
port productive labor. " As a consequence he says the result is " a harsh 
separation of the classes, combined with those glaring inequalities in 
the distribution of wealth, which most people will agree are among 
the chief elements of our social instability." 

" Everywhere, " says Bowman, "we find capital and labor ar^ 
rayed against each other. While the shops and factories apparently 
move along as usual, there is from time to time an uprising among the 
laborers. There is no denying the fact that labor is becoming more 
thoroughly organized every day. This is likewise true of capital, and 
the contest which results grows more intense every year. Capitalists, 
to satisfy selfish greed and to put the laboring man at a disadvantage, 
were the first to organize, and workingmen had to organize for mutual 
protection, at first, but later for retaliation. Both organize for selfish 
purposes — to gain an undue advantage of the other. The working- 
men declare that they are defrauded out of an equitable proportion of 
the increase of wealth. They claim that while the capitalists are 
amassing vast wealth, they are reduced to want and starvation. They 
are now denouncing the injustice of the wage system, asking for a 
fairer share of the proceeds." 

If wage- workers were paid their fair proportion of what they pro- 
duce, there would be plenty in their homes. If this were done, there 
would be money to spend, and the cry of " hard times " in all lines 
of industry and trade would no longer be heard. There is no lack in 
our land of the good provisions of God to make all comfortable. 

Overproduction of both farm and factory is the complaint, and 
yet processions throng the streets of our cities, crying for bread. 
There is no real overproduction, but the means to purchase has passed 
from the hands of the masses to the few who have appropriated to 
themselves the wealth of the nation. 

In answer to the cry of " hard times," the following appeared in 
the San Francisco Examiner : — 



3io 



TH£ coming king 



"How is it in this country? We have so much to eat that the 
farmers are complaining that they can get nothing for it. We have 
so much to wear that cotton and woolen mills are closing down because 
there is nobody to buy their products. We have so much coal that 
the railroads that carry it are going into the hands of the receivers. 
We have so many houses that the builders are out of work. 

"All the necessities and comforts of life are as plentiful as ever 
they were in the most prosperous year in our history. When the 
country has enough food, clothing, fuel, and shelter for everybody, 
why are times hard ? Evidently nature is not to blame. Who is ? " 

At the close of the Civil War in the United States, President Lin- 
coln said : — 

"A time is coming which alarms and unnerves me, when all the 
wealth will be in the hands of a few. I have more anxiety for my 
country now than during the war. ' ' 

Mr. Henry George, in " Progress and Poverty," says : — 

" Unpleasant as it may be to admit it, it is at last becoming evi- 
dent that the enormous increase in productive power which has 
marked the present century, and is still going on with accelerating 
ratio, has no tendency to extirpate poverty, or to lighten the burdens 
of those compelled to toil. It simply widens the gulf between Dives 
and Lazarus, and makes the struggle for existence more intense. The 
march of invention has clothed mankind with powers of which a cen- 
tury ago the boldest imagination could not have dreamed. But in 
factories where labor-saving machinery has reached its most wonder- 
ful development, little children are at work ; whenever the new forces 
are anything like fully utilized, large classes are maintained by 
charity, or live on the verge of recourse to it. . . . In the United 
States it is clear that squalor and misery, and the vices and crimes 
that spring from them, everywhere increase as the village grows to 
the city, and the march of development brings the advantages of the 
improved methods of production and exchange. It is in the older and 
richer sections of the Union that pauperism and distress among the 
working classes are becoming most apparent." 

When Abraham Lincoln spoke the words previously quoted the 
colossal fortunes of the present day were unknown, so there were but 
few millionaires in the United States. But how have they increased 
during the past forty years ? The following statement from the Bos- 
ton Globe, December, 1890, is to the point : — 

" Men now living can remember when there were not half a dozen 
millionaires in the land. There are now four thousand six hundred 
millionaires, and several whose yearly income is said to be over a 
million." 



CAPITAL AND LABOR 



"There are," said Mr. Gladstone, "gentlemen before me who 
have witnessed a greater accumulation of wealth within the period 
of their lives than has been seen in all preceding times since the days 
of Julius Caesar." 

There are several capitalists in the United States who are worth 
from one hundred million to one hundred and fifty million dollars. 
Such vast sums can hardly be comprehended. One hundred men, 
earning one thousand dollars a year each, would all have to work one 
thousand five hundred years to earn as much as one of these richest 
men is worth. It would take a train of sixteen cars to carry as much 
gold, each car loaded with ten tons. 

But while wealth has rapidly increased, it has gone into the hands 
of the few ; the property also has passed out of the hands of the masses. 
Upon this point the Young Men's Era has the following : — 

" When Egypt went down, two per cent, of her population owned 
all her wealth. The people were starved to death. 

" When Babylon went down, two per cent, of her population 
owned all her wealth. 

" When Persia went down, one per cent, of her population owned 
the land. 

" When Rome went down, eighteen hundred persons owned all 
the known world. 

"For the past twenty years the United States has rapidly followed 
in the steps of these old nations. Here are the figures : — 

"In 1850, capitalists owned thirty-seven and one-half per cent, of 
the nation's wealth. 

" In 1870 they owned sixty-three per cent. 

"In 1890 statistics show that two per cent, of our population 
owned seven-tenths of our entire wealth." 

Chauncey Depew says that ' ' fifty men control the finances of this 
country and dictate its legislation." 

But this situation is not peculiar to this country. 

"In England, in 1887, one-thirteenth of the people owned two- 
thirds of the nation's wealth. 

" Seventy persons own one-half of Scotland. 

"Less than eight hundred persons own one-half of Ireland." 

Truly the words of the apostle are being fulfilled in all the earth : 
" Ye have heaped treasures together in the last days." James 5 13. 
R. V. 

Professor Cairnes, in his "Political Economy," says: "The rich 
will be growing richer, and the poor at least relatively poorer. ' ' 

" In New York," says the Boston Globe, " the daily wages of sew- 
ing women is fifty cents for fifteen hours' work, and yet there are 



312 



THE COMING KING 



people who wonder at the unrest and dissatisfaction among wage- 
earners. There are one hundred and fifty thousand women and girls 
in New York and Brooklyn who work from twelve to fourteen hours 
for fifty cents." 

One writer says : ' 1 "When rich men and wealthy monopolies pay 
starvation wages, what is it but wealth feeding on poverty? " 

The following is from the pen of the late Frances E. Willard, in 
Nineteenth Century Civilization : — 

"The Christian can not accuse the pagan. The mtirder of his 
civilization is slower ; its method is finer. Its horrors are tempered 
to the sensitive nerves of a generation whose lips are moist with the 
profession of the doctrine of the lowly Nazarene ; but beneath this 
travesty of science that names itself industrial competition, there lies 
a barbarism more pagan, a stupidity that is infinite. 

" We read about women who make twelve shirts for seventy-five 
cents, and furnish their own thread — in Chicago." 

"We are assured," says the New Era, "on what seems to be 
good authority, that the ' sweating ' system is forcing men and 
women to work sometimes for thirty-three and even thirty-six consecu- 
tive hours to avoid starvation. 

" 'Alas that gold should be so dear, 
And flesh and blood so cheap ! ' " 

After a tour through the slums of Boston, the editor of the Arena 
speaks of the starvation wages paid by wealthy manufacturers. 
Among other things he mentioned "thirteen cents for fine custom- 
made pants manufactured for a wealthy firm which repeatedly asserts 
that its clothing is not made in tenement houses ! " 

Of nail makers in England, Mr. Potter says : — 

" It is no unusual thing for a family of three or four persons, 
after working something like fourteen hours a day, to earn $4.18 per 
week. ' ' 

"Working women in London," says the Pall Mall Gazette, 
" cover and embroider sunshades at three-quarters of a penny apiece, 
and, if work can be got, skilful workers do two dozen shades a day. 
... In shirt making a woman who works sixteen hours a day earns 
from eighteen to twenty-four cents. This means, for ninety-six hours 
per week, a minimum compensation of $1.08, and a maximum of 
$1.44." 

This paper further states that thousands of faint and ragged 
wretches were ready to fight for the chance of work at the wharves 
for forty cents a day. 

Henry George, Jr., in the Boston Globe, states that the usual 
wages of farm laborers in Wiltshire is ten shillings ($2.50) a week. 
This would give eight cents daily each for a family of five. 



CAPITAL AND LABOR 



313 



The Irish question has been a source of trouble in English legis- 
lation for years. It has never been settled because the larger portion 
of this much-abused country is owned by a very few Englishmen 
whose only interest in the country is the rental and taxes which they 
wring from the despairing people. 

James G. Blaine, writing upon this subject, says : — 

" They take from the tenantry that cultivate the land, $66,000,- 
000 rental per annum. Now mark you, I am talking of the little 
island, not so large as Maine, . . . and then they pay an imperial tax 
of $35,000,000, and a local tax of $15,000,000 more. There are $116,- 
000,000 to be wrought out of the bone and flesh and spirit of the Irish 
peasant, and no wonder he lies crushed and down-trodden." 

In Frankfort, women work for ten cents a day. Farm laborers 
get rent, fuel, twenty-five bushels of rye, three bushels of pease, one 
and one-half bushels of wheat, and from nineteen to twenty-five dol- 
lars in money for a year's work. 

In Berlin "the incomes of 270,000 persons range from $105 to 
$165 a year ; and 220,000 are not taxed because their incomes are less 
than $105 a year. 

' ' In Austria the common laborer receives about thirty-six cents 
for a day's work of twelve or fourteen hours. 

4 ' It is said that in Italy thousands live on wild roots, nuts, and 
herbs. 

"In France, labor riots are frequent. 

" It is stated that in China and Japan, wages are as low as six 
cents a day." 

In " The Money Question," we find the following quoted : — 
"A hundred years ago, when the inventions of Watt and Ark- 
wright were transforming, by the introduction of steam power, the 
manufacturing industries of England, and a new epoch of social hap- 
piness was about to open for the world of labor, an English poet might 
have sung the same song as that of his Greek brother (who praised 
the invention of the water wheel), and yet to-day the triumphal song 
of labor has been changed into the bitter cry of outcast thousands. 
After two thousand years the economic millennium still seems as far off 
as it ever was. Machinery, it is true, has multiplied riches, and cre- 
ated leisure. But who are those who enjoy it? Here is the great 
practical problem of modern life. In all the countries of Christendom 
this is the most perplexing subject with which modern society has to 
deal. ' Give us this day our daily bread,' is the cry, too often the 
despairing cry, of the modern workman," 



Ill 

The Coming 

Conflict 

" Go to now, ye rich men, weep 
and howl for your miseries that 
shall come upon you. Your riches 
are corrupted, and your garments 
are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall 
be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped 
treasure together for the last days." James 5 : 1-3. 

What will be the outcome of the conflict between capital and la- 
bor ? To the rich the Lord says : ' ' Ye have heaped treasure together 
in the last days." James 5:3, R. V. Those who have done this have 
resorted to oppression, until the working classes have been ground 
down to a point almost beyond endurance. 

But the rich will not long enjoy their riches unmolested. The 
Apostle Paul says, " In the last days perilous times shall come." 2 
Timothy 3:1. These are the very days in which treasure shall be 
" heaped together," as we have seen. 

The Apostle James, looking forward to the present struggle, sees 
the outcome, and speaking by inspiration, says to the capitalists : 
" Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall 
come upon you. . . . Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the 
rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh 
as it were fire." James 5 : 1-3. The very riches in which they trust 
will become the source of their overthrow and misery. 

As the concentration and organization of power among the rich 
takes the property from the middle classes, it throws into the ranks of 
wage-workers men of intellect and ability. With such men at their 
head, the laboring classes have been organizing for protection, so that 
instead of the interests of capital and labor being mutual, as they must 
be to insure success, they now form two antagonistic forces. 

Organized labor has become a power ; and when its councils de- 
cide to make war upon any line of tyranny, the effect is felt every- 
where. 

The late Dr. Talmage, speaking in one of the Washington pulpits 
from Matthew 7 : 12, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to 
you, do ye even so to them," said : — 

" The greatest war the world has ever seen is between capital and 
labor. The strike is not like that wfeich irj history is called the Thirty 
[314] 




the: coming conflict 315 

Years' War ; for it is a war of centuries, it is a war of the five conti- 
nents, it is a war hemispheric. 

" The middle classes in this country, upon whom the nation has 
depended for holding the balance of power, and for acting as media- 
tors between the two extremes, are diminishing ; and if things go on 
at the same rate as they are now going, it will not be very long before 
there will be no middle class in this country ; all will be very rich or 
very poor, princes or paupers, and the country will be given up to 
palaces and hovels. 

' 4 The antagonistic forces are closing in upon each other. The 
Pennsylvania miners' strikes, the telegraph operators' strikes, the rail- 
road employees' strikes, the movements of the boycotters and the 
dynamiters, are skirmishers before a general engagement, or, if you 
prefer it, escapes through the safety-valve of an imprisoned force 
which promises the explosion of society. 

"You may pooh-pooh it ; you may say that this trouble, like an 
angry child, will cry itself to sleep ; you may belittle it by calling it 
Fourierism, or socialism, or Saint-Simonism, or nihilism, or commun- 
ism ; but that will not hinder the fact that it is the mightiest, the 
darkest, the most terrific threat of the century. 

"All attempts at pacification have been dire failures, and mon- 
opoly is more arrogant and the tradesunions are more bitter. ' Give us 
more wages,' cry the employees. 'You shall have less,' say the capi- 
talists. ' Compel us to do fewer hours of toil a day.' ' You can toil 
more hours,' say the others. ' Then under certain conditions we will 
not work at all,' say these. ' Then you shall starve,' say those ; and 
as the workingmen gradually use up that which they accumulated in 
better times, unless there be some radical change, we shall soon have 
in this country four million hungry men and women. Now four mil- 
lion hungry people can not be kept quiet. All the enactments of 
legislatures, and all the constabularies of the cities, and all the army 
and navy of the United States can not keep four million hungry peo- 
ple quiet." 

Some of the best thinkers of the world are awake to the coming 
conflict between capital and labor. 

Ruskin, Carlyle, and Disraeli, the great English publicists, pro- 
phesied the coming increase of poverty. 

Mr. Bellamy, the editor of the New Nation- at Boston, speaks 
thus: " These are times of storms and stress, when men's hearts fail 
them for fear." 

Judge Brewer, of the Supreme Court, predicts a coming struggle 
against capital as bloody as the war of 1861-65. 



316 



THE COMING KING 



"Never in the world's history," says Rabbi Adler, "has there 
been greater need to preach the duties of wealth and the rights of 
poverty. In no previous age has the chasm been so deep which divides 
the rich and the poor. ' ' 

Said the late Cardinal Manning : ' ' The condition of the wage- 
earning people of every European country is a grave danger to every 
European state. The hours of labor, the employment of women and 
children, and the scantiness of wages, the uncertainty of employ- 
ment, the fierce competition fostered by modern political economy, 
and the destruction of domestic life resulting from all these and other 
kindred causes, have rendered it impossible for men to live a human 
life." 

Says George E. McNeill, editor of the Labor Movement : "The 
laborer and the capitalist are living in war relations ; and the sooner 
this fact is acknowledged the better for the adjustment of differences. 
The mob can be put down for awhile ; but the spirit of hate that now 
centers upon the great monopolies will soon extend to the government 
that acts as their protector. The existence of a million tramps is a 
standing threat against the stability of our institutions. They are the 
unorganized militia of incipient rebellion ; and the attempt to suppress 
them by violent measures will fail in the nineteenth century as it did 
in the eighteenth." 

The rich are beginning to realize the dangers that threaten them. 
The following is from a New York daily of 1892: "Since the out- 
break of cranks in New York, the rich men of that city have had 
their houses guarded by from one to three private watchmen. Jay 
Gould has three. The late Colonel Elliot F. Shepard had a six-foot 
Irishman to watch his house. But the colonel should have remem- 
bered, ' Except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in 
vain.' And so it is down the long list of New York's millionaires ; 
each has one watchman or more to keep away cranks and other dan- 
gers. The private detectives' business has been very good this winter 
since Russell Sage was blown up." 

It is said that a notorious millionaire, when asked why he did not 
build a palatial mansion, such as Vanderbilt's, replied " / donH want 
a house that will be so easily found when the hungry fellows break 
loose. ' ' 

Hugh O. Pentecost, in 1892, reasoning from the history of the 
past, said : " We are on the brink of a financial panic. It may break 
upon us at any day. Only a few days ago money was loaned on Wall 
Street at the rate of nearly two hundred per cent, a year. Soon after 
the panic comes laborers will begin to feel the pangs of hunger and the 
bite of cold. A hungry stomach and shivering limbs know no respect 



THE COMING CONFLICT 317 

for property, no reverance for law. And when hungry men begin to 
seize food and clothing wherever they can find them, the monopolists 
will have them shot, and ... a horrible dance of death will ensue, 
by the light of burning houses and the discordant music of cries, and 
groans, and musketry, and dynamite bombs." 

It is useless for us to close our eyes to the fact that red-handed 
anarchy, if not actually abroad in the earth to-day, is only awaiting 
the return of the business depression of a few years ago to spring 
again into destructive activity. Unscrupulous men, and women too, 
are only too glad to take advantage of the spirit of discontent among 
the working classes. They make it their business to foment strife 
between capital and honest labor. 

On the subject of anarchy, T. DeWitt Talmage, in " A Battle for 
Bread," says: " Great throngs gather at some point of disturbance 
in almost all our cities. Railroad trains hurled over the rocks ! 
Workmen beaten to death in sight of their wives and children ! Fac- 
tories assailed by mobs ! . . . The whole country asking the question, 
' What next?'" 

"Anarchy is the abolition of the rights of property. It makes 
your store, and your house, and your family mine, and mine yours. 
It is wholesale robbery. It is every man's hand against every other 
man. It is arson, and murder, and rapine, and lust, and death trium- 
phant. It means no law, no church, no defense, no right, no happi- 
ness, no God. It means hell let loose on earth, and society a combi- 
nation of devils incarnate." 

Of the anarchist the same writer says : " He owns nothing but a 
knife for universal blood-letting and a nitro-glycerine bomb for explo- 
sion. He believes in no God, in no government, no heaven, and no 
hell, except what he can make on earth." 

Rev. W. H. Bowman, in " War between Capital and Tabor," says : 
" What do these immense hordes of anarchists and nihilists propose to 
do? They propose to right the wrongs of this world by a greater 
wrong, — by dynamite, sword, and torch to crush out the last vestige 
of government, and bring about a social chaos. Their numbers are 
constantly increasing." 

The Christian Union lately said that the Russian nihilists ' ' avow 
that their aim is to overturn civilized society. They declare that so- 
ciety as constituted is so corrupt and so essentially oppressive of the 
poor that there is no way of reforming it, and the only remedy is de- 
struction. Their correspondence with the revolutionary societies of 
London and Paris shows that the conspiracy is world-wide." 

To the laboring man and woman we would say, Shun anarchy 
and anarchists as you would a breeding pestilence. The worst evil 



3i8 



THE COMING KING 



that could befall you and humanity would be the success and reign of 
anarchy. When such elements gain control, their bloodthirsty in- 
stincts are not appeased by the overthrow of their natural enemies. 
They must then turn and fight among themselves. It always has 
been so, it cannot be otherwise. Their success will inaugurate a 
reign of terror for those very laboring classes far worse than the pres- 
ent evils, and only approached by the horrors of the French Revolu- 
tion. 

The Money Question 

In his scathing denunciation of the oppression of the rich the 
apostle James writes, " Ye have heaped treasure together in the last 
days." James 5 '.3, R. V. All recognize the fact that when money 
circulates freely, times are good. When it is scarce, trade and manu- 
facturing industries languish. Reliable statistics show that there is 
more gold and silver in the world to-day than ever before ; yet it is so 
scarce that business is paralyzed, and the people do not have enough 
to buy the common necessities of life. 

Where is the money? — Heaped up as the apostle foretold. One 
of the important evidences of the last days is the fact that only a 
small per cent, of the money of the world is in circulation, while the 
bulk of it is heaped together in four channels. First, One-fourth is 
locked up in the safes of banks. Secondly, One-third is held as a war 
reserve fund of nations. Thirdly, There is enormous treasure in the 
mints of the world. Fourthly, Untold wealth is locked in safety 
vaults by those who trust neither banks nor financial enterprises. 

Is it surprising that money is scarce ? Hoarding has become a 
mania, and although the mines may pour in an ever-increasing supply, 
it soon finds its way to the safes and strong boxes of nations, banks, 
and individuals. 

But the time is near when the very hoards of gold on which the 
rich have trusted will be their undoing. How aptly is this time de- 
scribed by the apostle : " Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the 
rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as 
it were fire." James 5 13. ' 

How vivid are the words of the prophet as he sees the last act of 
the drama when those who have hoarded wealth shall seek to purchase 
a little respite by a lavish scattering of the treasures on which they 
have relied : ' ' They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their 
gold shall be removed : their silver and their gold shall not be able to 
deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord : they shall not satisfy 
their souls, neither fill their bowels : because it is the stumblingblock 
of their iniquity." Ezekiel 7 : 19. 



The Nations' Airy Navies 



It was about fifty years ago that Lord Tennyson wrote : — 

"Then the air was filled with shouting, 
And there rained a ghastly dew 
From the nations' airy navies, 
Grappling in the central blue." 

There is not a shadow of a doubt that the next war between first- 
class powers will see the poet's prophecy fulfilled. The wonderful 
development in the field of aeronautics since Professor Langley first 
made a serious attempt to construct a heavier-than-air machine capa- 
ble of navigating the atmosphere has made this inevitable. 

Both the dirigible balloon, or the airship, and the aeroplane have 
been so far perfected as to make it certain that they will be used not 
only in defensive but in offensive warfare whenever occasion offers. 
J. W. Mitchell well said in an article in the Saturday Evening Post of 
December 17, 1910 : "The date when aeroplanes will be applied to 
warfare is the question as to when the next war will occur." 

Of course nobody can predict exactly the effectiveness of either 
the dirigible or the aeroplane in actual warfare, but it is significant 
that naval officers while in- 
sisting that flying machines 
are not a serious menace to 
battle-ships, on account of 
their protected decks, admit 
that they can be used very 
effectively against land forces 
both in the open and behind 
fortifications. 

On the other hand army 
officers, while confident that 
their branch of the service 
has little to fear from these 
machines, are generally of the 

Shooting from Aeroplane 
[319] 




3;20 THE COMING KING 

opinion that they are a force that must be reckoned with by the navy. 

Gen. Nelson A. Miles, who witnessed the aeroplane maneuvers at 
Atlantic City, N. J., in the autumn of 1910, said that the airship has 
sounded the death knell of the navy, and that battle-ships are obsolete 
Sir Frederic Villiers, England's most distinguished war corres- 
pondent, is reported in the Saturday Evening Post as saying that he 

would seriously advise Canada to put 
money into aeronautics rather than 
into her contemplated navy, as the 
next war would be decided in the air. 

In both army and navy circles 
measures of defence are being provided 
against the aeronautic engines of des- 
truction. The balloon gun mounted 
upon an automobile, together with 
high power rifles in the hands of ex- 
pert marksmen, are relied upon on 
land, while on shipboard protected 
decks, supplemented by aerial torpedo 
nets, will afford whatever protection 
is possible in connection, of course 
with the balloon guns and the high power rifles as on land. 

It has been suggested that in actual warfare ' ' there will not be 
just one aviator operating David-like against the Goliath of a fleet, but 
there will be a swarm of aeroplanes stinging a monster to death with 
tiny stings." 

In this connection attention is called to the fact that, at present 
prices of aeroplanes and Dreadnaughts, two thousand of the former 
could be provided for the price of one of the latter, and that even a 
Dreadnaught would fare badly if attacked by only a hundred aero- 
planes acting in concert. 

Lieut. Benjamin D. Foulois, United States army aeroplane expert 
says that ' 1 there are numerous minor offensive operations in which an 
aeroplane fleet can be employed, such as making swift raids on lines 
of communication, destroying important bridges, or dropping fire 
shells upon important depots where large quantities of supplies are 
stored." 

These machines can be used also, either on sea or land, for drop- 
ping shells charged with deadly gases, a single bomb weighing only 
a hundred and sixty pounds containing enough gas to destroy the 
entire crew of a battle-ship or a whole regiment of land forces. 

Certainly the use of these machines must add very greatly to the 
horrors of modern warfare already terrible beyond description. 




The BaJloon Gun 



FEB 15 1911 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



FEB 25 1911 




